The Painful Truth
by ThisPerson1
Summary: So this is just story that takes place after Jak 2 & before Jak 3. I suck at summaries and this is my 1st fanfic ever so cut me some slack. Anyway Jak's starting to have issues with the Dark Eco in him, and with Metal Heads and KG's, it only adds to his 'stress'. There's also a new KG commander in town. Rated T for some violence, but nothing gory.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN JAK CHARACTERS OR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT. ALL RIGHTS GO TO NAUGHTY DOG & ANYONE ELSE INCLUDED. **So here's the start of the story I guess & the usual 'this is my 1st fan fiction ever so go easy on me' thing.

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The Painful Truth

Ch. 1

"Hey, uh, buddy. You okay?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just...thinking."

"Oh... okay." Jak had been acting like this for a while now. He would just sit there and stare off into space until someone brought him out of it. Someone would ask him what was wrong, and he'd answer with the same blasé answer that he had just given Daxter a few moments ago. Now everyone was becoming suspicious, and wondered if he was even thinking, or if he was just out of it. While most ordinary friends like Torn, Ashelin, Sig and Jinx may have thought it was just the stress of being the hero, his true friends knew it was much more. Keira, Samos, and Daxter all knew how Jak really felt. Especially Dax, who was always by his side.

He'd noticed his friend's personality change a few weeks ago. He was becoming more violent; more aggressive. Even his darker self had begun to change. (I know, stunning isn't it?) He seemed more eager to use his powers and caused more destruction than usual. Under normal circumstances, he would've only transformed if they were being overwhelmed by Krimzon Guards or Metal Heads, but now he hardly gave it a second thought. The most notable difference in Jak took place only a couple of days before. It was when Torn sent them to Dead Town to investigate the reports of Metal Head activity there. It was only meant to be a recon mission, but it ended up being much more than that.

Upon arriving, they hid behind the ruins of what used to be a building and watched as a small group of Metal Heads gathered together. "What do you think _they're _up to?"

"I don't know Dax, but let's crash this party before it even starts."

"But Jak, this was strictly a recon mission. Torn told us not to attack..." Jak turned and glared at him with a menacing look in his eyes, and Daxter didn't like it; it didn't look like the Jak he knew. "Uh look. I'm up for kicking some Metal Head butt as much as the next guy, but I think maybe we should listen to Torn on this one." Daxter didn't like to agree with the Underground commander, but he did so for two reasons: 1. If he said don't attack then there must've been a very good reason for that. And 2. He was worried about Jak. He didn't seem crazy, but he had a strange look in his eyes. A look that told Dax he was enjoying what he was doing.

"C'mon pal. You're not gonna chicken out on me now are ya?" He held out his arm as an invitation for Daxter to hop on, and for the first time in history he refused.

"You go ahead. I think I'll sit this one out."

"Suit yourself." He shrugged and leapt down into the crowd. Facing them he said, "Hey guys. Did I miss the party?" The largest of them stepped out from the middle of the crowd.

"It's him! The Dark One that killed our master! **Get him!**" Jak was surprised. This was the only other Metal Head he knew of who could speak English. The other being Kor. Daxter watched as his best friend changed into the 'Dark One' and began violently beating all the Metal Heads. He literally mopped the floor with them, and it wasn't until he started beating them with their own arms and legs that Dax jumped down to go stop him.

"I uh...think you got 'em Jak."

"Did I?" he snarled. He walked over to a rock and dragged a fearful Metal Head out. It was the leader of the pack. "Alright you worthless roach. What's your plan? Why were you and all those others out here?" He began to choke him.

"Ugh... I was sent out to...ug...gather as many as I could and get them...agh...back to the nest to retaliate against the city." Jak released his grip slightly before throwing him into a wall.

"You'd better tell me the whole plan or what happened to them will be the least of your problems." He gestured towards the pile of dead Metal Heads all the while keeping his black glaze fixed on him.

"Those were my only orders. I don't know anything else..."

"AARRRGGHH!" Tired of hearing him talk, he stabbed him with one of his clawed hands, effectively killing him. A few seconds later he stumbled a bit and changed back to normal. Daxter, too afraid to approach him in case he wasn't himself, kept his distance for a minute or two. His feeling of fear left him once he heard his breathing return to normal.

"Ummm...Jak? Is...is that you?" Jak turned, the look in his eyes gone.

"Yes, it's me." And he started towards the city entrance.

"Hey! Wait up!" Daxter caught up with him and hopped up on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"I feel fine. Let's just get out of here. It makes me feel...dead inside."

"Heh. You're not the only one." He said looking back at the Metal Heads.

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Well here's the 1st chapter let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Coming back to the present, Daxter hadn't noticed the disappearance of his friend until he looked up and saw the empty seat at the bar and heard a zoomer start up outside. "Jak? JAK! Where are ya buddy?" He ran outside just in time to see him take off. "Jak! Wait!" But it was too late. He was already gone. "What's gotten into him?" He stood there looking dumbfounded as Sig drove up.

"Hello Cherries. Where's ol' Chili Pepper?"

"He went bananas and ditched me. We gotta find him."

"Get in. Now which way did he go?"

"That way." Daxter pointed in the direction Jak went and Sig gunned it, scanning the city for any sign of the blonde crusader. Nearly an hour had passed and still no sign.

"Where could he possibly be? We've looked everywhere." Sig gave an exhausted sigh. "He couldn't have just vanished."

"Hold up big guy, there's one place we haven't checked."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"The Water Slums."

"There! Really? What would Jak be doing in a place like that?"

"Well, back when we were dealing with the whole Baron Praxis thing, we found an Oracle out there. That's where Jak got some of his dark powers. The Oracle would give 'em to him. If he had enough Metal Head skull gems that is."

"And you think he might be out there?"

"I dunno, maybe."

"Hold on to your fur Cherries, 'cuz we're takin' the express lane." Sig stomped on the gas and they sped towards the Water Slums. It was nightfall when they got there.

"Okay. Stick close and don't do anything suspicious."

"Hmph. In this place, everything looks suspicious. Including a heavily armored man following an orange rat around."

"Good point." Daxter climbed up on Sig's shoulder and pointed the way. Once they reached the room, they looked to make sure no one saw them and went inside.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do?"

"There is nothing I _would _do. You must have the darkness in order to have the light." The Oracle's voice boomed.

"What does that even mean?"

"Everything is in balance with each other. It is how order is maintained. Without darkness, light would not exist, and without light there would be no darkness. Everything is going according to plan." Its last words echoed loudly in the room, and Jak tried hard not to lose his temper.

"What does that even mean?" He whispered softly.

"Hey pal! We've been lookin' everywhere for ya! What was that all about?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Now you wait just one minute Chili Pepper. We've looked all over the city for you. I can think of plenty of other things I would've rather done, so just spill the beans already. 'Cuz I ain't takin' no for an answer."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?! You've been like this for weeks! I'm your best friend. If you won't tell me, then I'm not sure I can trust you enough to tell you anything."

"Daxter, please. I'm going back to the hideout. Are you coming or not?" He waited for an answer, and Dax decided it would be best not to leave him alone. He went with him, and as they left Sig gave one last look at the Oracle.

"I don't know what you did Chili Pepper, but I know it's not good." He got in his hover car and drove off.

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**A/N: Sorry it's kinda short next one won't be**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

When they got to the hideout Jak didn't talk to anyone. He just crawled straight into bed. "What's his problem?" Torn asked.

"Dunno. I'm still trying to find out." And he went into the room he and Jak shared and climbed into his own ottsel-sized bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, Daxter was awakened by the sound of fearful pleas. Straightening up, he stretched and looked over at the other bed. The pleas were coming from Jak. He shook off his sleepiness and climbed out of his bed, heading over to Jak's. He was tossing and turning, and mumbling in his sleep. It was obvious he was having a nightmare.

"No. No...please. Don't do this please! Stop! _No! Not her! _Please no! Ahh!" He suddenly jerked up in his bed, wiping the sweat off his face. He jumped once more when Daxter unexpectedly hopped up on his lap.

"Are you okay? That must've been some nightmare to get _you _all worked up. What was it about?"

"Nothing. It was just a bad dream."

"Well obviously! I meant what was in it to make it so bad?" Jak didn't reply, instead he just looked away. He thought if he didn't answer, Daxter would go away. But he didn't.

"I'll tell you in the morning. Right now I just wanna get some sleep." He shoved him off the bed and turned over; his back to him. Daxter laid back down, but before he could even think about sleeping, he heard a soft sobbing. It was faint, but he knew where it was coming from. Knowing when not to bother him, he simply clamped his eyes shut and tried to keep the man's sadness from getting to him. It was so hard not to.

The next morning Daxter awoke to a soft prodding on his side. "Just five more minutes..." He muttered.

"Daxter get up." Jak shook his bed lightly until he finally moved.

"This better be important." He said groggily while rubbing his eyes.

"Torn wants us to spy on some Krimzon Guards."

"Isn't that Ashelin's job?"

"It is. But she hasn't been able to lately. Torn knows all the details so let's go." They headed into the command room to see the ex-Krimzon Guard hunched over at the table.

"'Bout time you two got here. I got word from Ashelin that the new KG commander is up to something."

"Why isn't she the new commander? She was Praxis's daughter. And since he ain't in the picture no more, shouldn't she have been promoted or something?" Torn gave the ottsel an annoyed look.

"That's not how it works rat. The Baron chose his successors ahead of time. His first choice was Erol, but as we all know he's...not around anymore. Which leaves his second choice: a member of the KG Elites. His name's Krag and he's as loyal to the Baron as Erol was. The only reason Praxis didn't choose Ashelin was because she didn't always 'agree' with him."

"So where do we come in?" Jak asked impatiently. Daxter noticed he looked exhausted and wondered if he had slept at all.

"Well, Krag's well aware of how 'stubborn' Ashelin can be and he's becoming suspicious. He knows she helped the Underground before, but if he finds out she's really just our mole on the inside, then who knows what'll happen. That's why I want you to listen in on some of the KG's conversations and see if _you _can find out anything important. Ashelin can't get any info because Krag's been sending her out on so many missions."

"So why just spy on them? I don't see why we can't just 'convince' them to tell us."

"Because, they're in constant radio contact with each other. If you take out one the rest will know and they'll all come at you." Jak grunted and Torn was beginning to lose his patience. When he first met Jak, he saw how angry he was towards the Baron and he could understand that. But now he was just plain ruthless, and that could lead to disaster on stealth missions like these. And the one in Dead Town. Daxter sensed the tension rising and tried to change the subject back to the task at hand.

"Sooo...how exactly do we find out what they're up to?"

"Here. Take this holomap. It'll point out all the Guards we think are in on it. Oh, and here's this. It's a device Vin made. It should hack into their frequencies and allow you to hear their conversations."

"Should?!"

"It's still in the experimental stage. The range isn't very good so you'll need to get a little closer."

"Don't worry Dax. Those dirt bags will think twice before they mess with us." Daxter saw that look in eyes again, and from what he could tell so did Torn. He stood there staring at him before blinking and continuing on.

"Well don't just stand there. Get going! You can take the zoomer out front. Just _don't _get caught."

"Whatever. C'mon Dax." He walked out the door and Dax had no choice but to follow. They got on the zoomer, and Jak activated the holomap. "There's our first target." He said "Let's do this." He sped off towards the location of the first Guard. Daxter, fearing Jak might blow their cover before they even found out anything, asked him if he was actually going to listen to Torn.

"I don't see the big deal in taking out a few Guards. After all, stealth isn't really my thing." He chuckled and Daxter gulped. The sound of his laugh sent chills down his spine.

"Why don't we uh...listen this time? Torn is right we should stay on the down-low. If we get swarmed by Krimzon Guards, I'm not sure I'll be around to say I told you so." After a moment Jak shook his head and agreed with his friend.

"You're right. I don't know what came over me."

"Oh, that reminds me. You never told me about that dream last night."

"We're here." Eager to avoid answering he slowed the zoomer to a stop and got off. The Guard wasn't too far away. With Daxter clinging to his shoulder, Jak hauled himself up to the rooftops. Keeping out of sight, he pulled out the device Torn gave him. It looked like a small earpiece. Placing it in his ear, he fiddled with it until he finally found the right frequency.

"Well? Can you hear anything?"

"Yeah. Hold on." Listening carefully to what the Guard was saying, he made sure to take in every word.

"Yes sir. Everything's going according to plan. No one suspects a thing."

"Are you sure?" Krag's rough voice crackled over the comm. "Because I wouldn't want anything interfering with my plans. Especially not that pitiful Underground, or that Dark Eco freak the Baron made. Report back to the fortress and move forward with the next phase."

"But sir, the others aren't ready yet. And the device is far from finished. Shouldn't we wait until-"

"I didn't _ask _you what to do! I _ordered_ it! Are _you _the new commander of the Krimzon Guard, and soon-to-be supreme ruler of Haven City?" His question was followed by a series of 'yes sirs' and 'no sirs' before the Guard hustled out of range.

"So what'd he say? Tell me!" Jak pushed Daxter away from his ear.

"He was told to 'move forward with the next phase.' Torn and Ashelin are right. Krag _is _up to something. And it's big. C'mon Dax, let's find the next Guard."

"Right behind ya!" The duo hunted down the next KG. They came down an alley before climbing back up to the rooftops. When they got close enough, Daxter noticed something familiar about this one. "Hey Jak? Doesn't this guy remind you of someone?" Looking closer, Jak thought he'd seen him before.

"He does. I can't place it though." He was going to get a little closer when one of the shingles fell off the roof and landed right behind the Guard.

"What the...?" He turned and looked up, and spotted Jak and Daxter just as they ducked down. "Don't I know you two?" He watched, gun aimed at their position (you can never be too careful), as they slowly came out of their hiding places. Suddenly it clicked.

"Hey! You're that overly-negative wimp from the sewers!" Daxter pointed a finger at him.

"Jak! I didn't think I'd see you again." He lowered his gun, and Jak came down from the roof.

"Grim? Since when are you a Krimzon Guard? You used to work for Krew!"

"Yeah, as a spy. How do you think he knew so much about the Baron?"

"But you were blowin' stuff up last time we saw you!"

"That too. I guess you could say it's more of a hobby."

"What about Mog and Jinx?"

"I don't know about Mog, but Jinx said something about helping the Underground."

"Would you consider it?"

"I don't know...why?"

"We need info on what Krag is planning. Do you know anything?"

"All I know is that it involves the Metal Heads and some sort of a super weapon or something."

"We heard him say he was the 'soon-to-be ruler of Haven.' What's that about?" Glancing to make sure no other Guards were around he continued.

"I'm not 100% sure, but I think he's going to use the Metal Heads to take _full _control of Haven. If you think it's a prison now, just wait 'til he wins. I've seen some schematics for a force field around the city and a way to seal off _all _passageways. No way in or out. We'll all be trapped." He looked and saw a patrol of Guards approaching. "I gotta go. Get outta here now. Listen, there's a patrol on the south side that might have some answers." He turned to go and Jak ran out of sight.

"Wow. That was helpful. I didn't think he'd say anything, right Jak? Hey!" Daxter whacked him in the eye. "Are you listening?"

"Ow. Uh, yeah I'm listening." Jak obviously wasn't though, because he was just staring straight ahead too focused on driving.

"What's your problem huh?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"I think you need to."

"I think you need to shut up."

"Do ya need a hug Jak? 'Cuz I think you do." He wrapped his tiny arms around his forehead.

"Daxter not while I'm driving." He pried his arms off with a little more force than he meant to use.

"Hey chill. I'm only trying to make you feel better sheesh!" Jak felt a pang of guilt for being so hard on Dax. He was, after all, his best and closest friend for as long as he could remember, and always stuck by his side no matter what the world threw at them. He'd been there since the very beginning all the way to now. From Gol and Maia to the Rift Gate to Baron Praxis to this very moment. Daxter was the best friend Jak had and he didn't want to lose that. He actually thought he had when Dax was turned into an ottsel and when the Baron kidnapped him, but found that their friendship was too strong to lose. Jak discovered this when he was rescued from the Baron by Daxter. And even now, with Dark Eco coursing through his veins, Daxter still stuck by his side.

"Y'know what Dax? You're right. Maybe I do need to talk about it."

"That's the spirit! So what's been bothering you so much lately?" Seeing the next patrol coming up, he avoided the question once more.

"There's the patrol Grim told us about. Let's go."

"Ohhh C'mon!"

"Shhh!" After shushing Dax he got close enough for the device to do it's job. Unfortunately, they weren't contacting anyone over the comm. and were only speaking to each other.

"Yeah, Krag's alright but I think the Baron was better."

"What are you saying?! Did Krag make a mutant monstrosity that overthrew him? Didn't he come up with a plan to get total control of this city?" The other Guards said nothing; they just kept walking. "I thought so. And at least he has a plan to rid us of that Eco freak." Daxter noticed Jak's fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"Hey...are you, okay?"

"No!" Daxter jumped at his response.

"What's wrong with you?! Are you trying to blow our cover?" Suddenly Jak's head snapped around and the angry look on his face frightened Dax.

"Forget our cover! I'm tired of sneaking around, let's do this the easy way!" Suddenly he jumped down and tackled one of the Guards. The other three were too shocked at the sight of seeing Dark Jak face to face to do anything other than stand there totally confused.

"Don't just stand there!" The pinned down Guard shouted while holding back long, black claws. "Call for backup! Shoot it! Do _something_!" The rest of them snapped out of their daze and focused on dealing with the crazed beast. Two of them started shooting at Jak while the third radioed for help.

"This is Unit Alpha requesting backup. We're being attacked by-" He was cut off by the force of a body being thrown at him. Jak then dove at the other two and pinned them against a wall.

Holding them by the neck he shouted, "What's your boss up to? I want answers **NOW!**"

"We won't tell you anything freak!" A shot rang out, and it just barely missed Jak's head. He whipped around just in time to dodge another shot. Two cruisers, along with at least twelve other Guards had appeared and more were probably on the way.

"Uhhh, Jak? I think it's time we made our escape!" Jak nodded, and leapt up in the air to perform Dark Bomb. With his Dark Eco depleted, he reverted back to normal. He held his head in his hands for a moment, trying to soothe the headache, and hoped his ears would stop ringing. Eventually Daxter's voice brought him out of his daze. "Jak! JAK! You can take a nap later but right now we gotta get outta here!"

"Huh? Oh right! Hold on Dax!" He took off and fired up the nearest hover car as an escape. By then Guards started swarming them from all sides. He drove erratically, dodging people and blasts of Red Eco, trying to come up with a plan to lose them.

"We should go back to the hideout!"

"And lead them there?!" Jak veered to avoid an oncoming cruiser. "We have to hide somewhere until the city's off high alert! Where else is there to go?"

"Anywhere but here! We're gettin' creamed Jak! Just try to shake 'em!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!" He shouted through clenched teeth. "We'll try to lose them in the canals, then double back to the hideout before they find us again." He was giving it his all but the Guards wouldn't stop coming no matter how many Daxter took out with the Morph Gun, and the car couldn't take much more. They were flying over the water when a shot hit one of the car's jets. It burst into flames, and Jak had a hard time steering it. "One more shot like that and we're through!"

"Agghh! We're gonna die!"

"No! We can still make it!" He did his best to avoid anything that would cause any more damage to the car.

"Jak, in case you haven't noticed, we're leaving a trail of smoke for them to follow! Wherever we go they'll find us!"

"That's it! Daxter, clear a path! It's time for plan B."

"We had a plan B? It'd better work or I'll never speak to you ever again!" Daxter started shooting down cruisers, while Jak pushed the roasting car just a bit further.

"C'mon you can do it. Just a little more." While flying under the tunnel deep in the canals he rigged the car to keep going before jumping off and diving underwater. He doubled back and rose to the surface once he was sure there weren't anymore hoards of Guards running that way. Pulling his goggles and bandana over his face while Dax ducked inside his jacket, Jak 'borrowed' the closest zoomer and headed in the direction of the hideout.

Meanwhile, all of the Guards were still focused on the burning car, thinking Jak was still inside. "Move in! We've got him surrounded!" They formed a barrier that blocked all escape routes. Unfortunately for them, Jak and Daxter had already escaped.

"Give it up! You're surrounded!" Three of them moved in to fire, only to see a flaming car with no driver flying straight towards them.

"Wha- it's a trick! Move it!" They narrowly avoided being hit as it crashed into a wall and exploded. Somewhere in the sea of red Grim was laughing.

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Ugh u have no idea how long this took to type. I had it written up already just not typed. Anyways, R & R


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ok so it may start taking me a little longer to update because of school & stuff but I still will. This is also the last chapter I had already written out so I'll be taking time to brainstorm new ideas too.**

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Ch. 4

The second they came down the stairs, Torn was already in their faces. "What did you two do?! I ask you to spy on a few Krimzon Guards, and you put the entire city on high alert. They're lookin' for you, Jak! Every last Guard out there is after _you._"

"Tell me something I don't know." Jak said as he walked past him. Daxter, having enough near-death experiences for one day, exploded.

"Listen Tattooed-Wonder. We almost got killed by a bunch of Krimzon Guards! We barely escaped, and thanks to you my fur's so knotted and wet, that I think I might go wring myself out. We risked _our _necks, to go do your dirty work! So back off! Okay?!" Torn had such an angry look on his face that Jak thought if he had been alone with Daxter, he would've been wearing a new pair of gloves and eating a bowl of ottsel soup.

"You listen, RAT. All I asked, was for you two to go find out Krag's plan. Not get the attention of every Guard in the city. Now, who wants to tell me how this happened?" He folded his arms across his chest. Daxter sheepishly looked at Jak but didn't dare say a word.

Sighing, Jak admitted to his mistake. "I did it. We were following a patrol, and I lost my cool and attacked. And before you remind me that every Guard in the city is out to get me, let me correct you on that. Grim is on our side...I think."

"Grim huh? I thought he was one of Krew's bomber boys."

"He was. But apparently he's in the Guard too."

"Yeah! And it's a good thing too! If it wasn't for ol' doom and gloom, we wouldn't have found out where this one patrol was, 'cuz you didn't have 'em on yer map."

"Did you get anything useful?"

"Well, uh...That might have been the patrol Jak attacked. Heh Heh. It's a real funny story though. Tell him Jak." Daxter moved to a safer position from Torn: behind Jak's head.

"They weren't in radio contact anyway. But we did catch something about a way to annihilate me."

"I'm not sure if I could consider that a problem right now. Seeing as how you two probably have the city covered in wanted posters, I can't send you on any more stealth missions."

"That's too bad." Jak smirked.

"But, I'm sure that the Metal Heads currently occupying most of Haven Forest won't mind your company."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there checkered flag. You're seriously gonna send us out to Haven Forest after we _just _got back from a KG convention? Where's my coffee break? Or my paycheck?"

"Look, I can't send you out on any more city business until Krag cools his jets. So the only thing you can do is keep an eye on the Metal Heads. Just don't blow that one too. Understand?"

"Fine. But we can't leave now. We'll have to wait until the alarms stop."

"Even after they shut off the alarms they'll still be looking. Maybe you should wait until nightfall. Shouldn't be too much longer now."

"If you say so." Jak pulled up a chair and sat at the far end of the room, with Daxter on a table next to him. For a while they just sat there in silence. The alarms had died down, Torn was going through some papers, Jak was sitting there quietly, and Daxter was clicking his nails against the wood table. Finally the curiosity gnawing at his insides and the awkward silence got the better of him and he couldn't take anymore.

"Gah! Jak just tell me what's wrong. Why have you been so aggressive lately?" The moment the words left his mouth he knew he had made a mistake.

"I don't know okay Dax! Something's wrong and I have no idea what it is!" He got up and stormed out, most likely heading to Haven Forest, leaving Dax behind.

"What was that about?"

"Something's been bothering him lately. He's gettin' to be more violent than ever and I've got the feeling that it's got something to do with all the Dark Eco the Baron pumped into him."

"Maybe you shouldn't leave him alone then. If he's so dangerous, then you should watch him."

"Right." He went for the door but stopped. "Uh...Can I get a ride?"

"No." Torn went back to his work and Daxter left wondering how he could possibly catch up to Jak.

"C'mon Dax, think. Ya know where he's going, and ya probably know how to stop him from hurting anyone. The only thing you don't know is how to beat him there." A passing Krimzon Guard cruiser caught his attention.

"Yes sir. I'm heading over to the forest entrance now." Just as he pulled off Daxter grabbed hold of the bottom.

"And now, you do." He said as the Guard unknowingly carried him to his friend.

As Jak was heading in the direction of Haven Forest he felt the Dark Eco rise again. He had never told anyone this, not even Daxter, but it had always felt like the Dark Eco had a mind of its own. Not enough of one to actually control him, but enough to try to 'convince' him to transform without having a reason. At first, it just felt like a distant ache that only escalated with his anger. But lately it's been a voice in the back of his mind. Constantly telling him to lose all control and let it take over. Jak felt like he was always at war with himself. As if Krag and the Metal Heads weren't enough. The reason he was so quick to transform was because he could feel the anger building up inside him. Over what, he wasn't sure but for him raw anger meant raw power. He wasn't really afraid of the voice itself, but the fact that it kept taunting him. The threats really only occurred in his sleep. He had guessed it was because he only had his subconscious to counter it, and that's not as strong as his conscious. He didn't want to tell Daxter because he felt he wouldn't understand. Even he himself didn't understand. Some of it could be contributed to his pride, because he didn't want to admit he was afraid. That night he had woken up screaming was because he had witnessed his darker half's joy as he killed Jak's three closest friends: Samos, Daxter and Keira. And all Jak could do was watch.

A sudden, sharp pain in his head almost made him hit a wall. And that's when he heard the voice. _"Why do you keep fighting it?"_

"What's happening to me?" He said aloud.

**_"It wouldn't be so bad if you just stopped resisting."_**

_"And let you take over and kill all my friends? Not happening." _Jak was really trying to push back the voice but he just couldn't do it. _"Get out of my head."_

**_"How could I? We share the same one."_**

_"Leave me alone! And leave my friends alone." _The response he got was an evil laugh. _"Why won't you quit?"_

**_"Because I enjoy making you miserable. And watching you stand there helpless as I kill your so-called friends."_**

_"Those are only dreams. Nightmares caused by __**you.**__"_

**_"Or are they?" _**With that, the voice vanished, and Jak couldn't help but shiver at the thought.

_"What if they aren't just dreams?" _He thought. _"What if...they're more? No. I can't let him get to me. If I do he'll win. But still, why is this happening?" _He pictured Gol and Maia, and suddenly realization hit him. Maybe they hadn't willingly tried to flood the world with Dark Eco. Maybe it was just the overwhelming power of it. Perhaps Gol was driven insane by the very same voice that was now tormenting Jak, and then convinced his sister to join him. Maia could have just as easily suffered the same fate. Then the two Eco-driven beings, controlled by the very substance _they _were supposed to have control over, hatched a plan to take over the world and reshape it in their own twisted image. At least Jak had been there to stop them.

"Wait a minute." Jak's train of thought hit a wall, and the impact of the crash shook him. "If they were being controlled, then...that means I killed two innocent people." He felt sick, and wanted to crash into a wall himself. While it wouldn't be the only time that he's been the death of someone, the thought of them being innocent bothered him greatly. If he was right about all this, then that made him a monster long before he truly became one. Long before the Baron's sick experiments, before voices (either from the Eco or mounting insanity) told him it was okay to kill those against you, and before he was separated from his friends for two long years. He realized that before any of that happened, he had already caused three deaths: Gol, Maia, and his innocence.

"What have I done?" Jak whispered softly to himself. "All this time I was supposed to be the hero, but I was really the villain." He mentally kicked himself for thinking like that. "What am I saying? Gol and Maia were already dead from their obsession with Dark Eco, not me." This thought helped calm him but he still felt like it was his fault. "I need to stop blaming myself. They were just Eco-driven sociopaths with no regard towards life." _Eco-driven._ Somehow he felt like that word described him perfectly. Or Eco-hungry. He wasn't sure which. He always felt fueled by the Dark Eco he absorbed, but at the same time he always wanted more of the poisonous substance. He constantly absorbed as much as he could get even if he didn't need it. It was as if he was addicted to it.

He sighed. "Maybe I should've brought Dax with me. At least I'd have someone to talk to." He actually took the time to park the zoomer and was walking up the ramp when he was stopped by a loud voice.

"Hey! Where do you think you're goin'? Looks like you forgot who the _real _hero was."

"Dax!" Jak was too happy at the sight of his friend to roll his eyes at his comment.

"I can't believe ya just left me. Do you have any idea how much work I had to do to get here?"

"Dax..." Jak couldn't believe he missed hearing Daxter's obnoxious rambling.

"Lemme finish! First, I had to hitch a ride on a KG cruiser. Then I had to do a little 'rewiring' so he wouldn't get here and spot you 'cuz that's what he was aiming to do. And then I had to run the rest of the way on foot. Yup, where would ya be without me partner?" He noticed the bitter look on Jak's face. "Hey, what's wrong? You've been actin' weird all day."

"It's just...too much Dark Eco in my system."

"I knew it." Daxter seemed satisfied by this, but Jak knew he wasn't. They stepped into the forest and the door closed behind them. They leapt through the warp gate and appeared on the higher ledge, then rode the platform to the forest itself. The second they came to the ledge they saw tons of Metal Heads.

"Whoa! Look at 'em all. Does Torn really expect us to spy on them?" Suddenly Torn's voice came on the communicator and filled the surrounding area.

"Jak, forget about stealth. Take out every last Metal Head in sight. They're planning an attack. Kill them all." Daxter smirked and saw the same grin on Jak's face.

"This is gonna be fun! Light 'em up Jak!"

"Yeah let's do it!" With Daxter clinging to his shoulder he ran down the hill and whipped out the Morph Gun. He set it on the Scatter Gun so he could take out large amounts of Metal Heads at once. With so many he ran out of ammo quickly and ended up switching to the Vulcan Fury and the Blaster.

"Why don't you use the Peace Maker on these chumps?"

"Haven't you ever heard of saving the best for last?" After he said that he switched modes and finished them off.

"Well that was exciting. Eh, Jak?"

"Yup. Now let's head back." As he was going back up the hill something caught his eye. "What's this?" Picking it up he examined it. "It looks like a Light Eco crystal."

"Really? Let me have a look at it." Before Jak could argue, Daxter snatched the crystal out of his hands and pretended to lamely examine it. "Yup. It looks real to me."

"Um...thanks Daxter." He took the crystal back as they reached the door.

"So what do you think a bunch of dumb apes want with a Light Eco crystal anyway? Metal Heads hate Light Eco."

"Which is exactly why they may have had it."

"What?"

"Well, remember how Grim said Krag's plan involved the Metal Heads?"

"Yeah. And some kind of weapon too."

"The only things I can think of are either the weapon runs off of Light Eco, or Krag just wants it destroyed so it doesn't interfere with his plans."

"Good theory. We should pass that onto Torn once we get back to the hideout. Uhhh..._if _we can get back to the hideout. Hey Jak, where'd you park the zoomer?"

"I left it right here."

"Someone must've taken it back seeing as how you never ask before borrowing."

"I guess so. Anyways I can always just...take...another..." Looking around, the duo saw that there were absolutely no signs of life other than themselves.

"What? Did the whole city just go on vacation or something?"

"Daxter now isn't the time for jokes. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, me too. My fur's standin' up." They were walking away from the forest entrance when a spotlight suddenly shone on them. Temporarily blinded, Jak reached for the Morph Gun only to have it shot out of his hands. He could hear Daxter screaming, and when his eyes adjusted to the bright light he saw that they were surrounded by a group of KG's and cruisers. With their guns all aimed at him, he had no choice but to surrender. But not without giving one last command to Dax.

"Daxter! Get outta here now!" The Guards started to close in.

"But I can't just leave you to get caught again!"

"Go Dax! That's an order! If we both get caught who's gonna help us?" One of them threw a bomb that sprayed knockout gas, and Jak told Daxter to book it. "Go tell the others!" Daxter sucked in the last breath of oxygen before jumping off Jak's shoulder and running on all fours. He darted right under a Guard.

"Hey!" He turned to shoot at him, but was stopped by another.

"Worry about the rodent later. Our orders were to capture this one." He gestured to Jak who had begun to sway. He tried fighting it, but had breathed in too much of the gas. Covering his mouth and nose with his jacket didn't help either. His vision began to darken, and before he knew it he was out cold. He didn't even remember falling over.

* * *

**A/N: Let me know if some parts were confusing or anything and I'll try to fix them. Also, for anyone who asks something stupid like 'why aren't the guards affected by the gas?' They're always wearing some mask or something over their mouth and nose, so I assumed it was a type of gasmask or something. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it's been a little while but I've finally got another chapter up & hopefully more soon.**

* * *

Ch. 5

Running. Running was the only thing Daxter could do to help his friend. He had to get back to the hideout and tell Torn and the others what had happened. His paws were stinging from running on all fours across the hard ground but he didn't care. Saving Jak was the only thing he cared about right now. _"What if something bad happens and I can't save him? What if he's experimented on again? What if..." _Daxter pushed the troubling thoughts aside and forced himself to go faster. Weaving through people's feet he saw the entrance to the hideout and darted towards it. At the speed he was running it wouldn't have been a surprise if he just flew right through it. "Jak's been captured!" Was the first thing he shouted before skidding to a stop.

"WHAT!?" Torn, Samos, and Keira all shouted in unison.

"How did this happen?" Keira didn't at all hide the worry in her voice.

"He...he was gassed by some KG's on our way back from the forest." Daxter finally managed to catch his breath. "When we came out we found it strange that the whole area had been cleared. We were gonna walk back when all of a sudden we were surrounded! Jak told me to come get you guys. We've gotta help him!"

"Great balls of Green Eco! If they've got Jak, then who knows what'll happen. We have to make a plan to get him out of there." Samos stamped his staff on the floor for emphasis.

"I agree. But we can't just storm the place. We're bound to get our heads blown off. We'll have to do some serious thinking to get him outta there. Maybe we can create some sort of diversion and then send in a small rescue team to get Jak."

"But won't they see that coming? After all, if they know Daxter got away then they're going to be expecting someone to come and rescue Jak. Unless..." Keira walked off to another part of the hideout.

"I just know this isn't going to end too well. My old bones are tingling."

"Well then maybe you ought to fix that old man! We've got other things to worry about, than your creaky old bones!"

"Says the rat who spends fifteen minutes in the bathroom combing his fur!"

"Yeah? Well at least I don't have to worry about waking up in the morning with a beehive stuck to my head or something. And besides, ladies love the fur."

"You..."

"Enough! You two can battle it out later. Right now our top priority is getting Jak out of Krag's clutches."

"Well I don't see you comin' up with no 'master plan' marker face. So when you've got a way to free Jak, you just let me know. And if ya don't, then I'll just go get him myself!"

"I leave you guys alone for five minutes and you're already at each other's throats. That's such a shame." Keira walked back in with a few papers in hand.

"What are those? Are they a way to save Jak?" Daxter jumped onto the table in the center of the room to get a better look.

"Something like that. They're blueprints for some prototypes I've been working on."

"What prototypes?" Daxter took a look at the papers and soon a huge grin was plastered on his face. "WOW! These babies are huge! You actually built these all by yourself?"

"Yup. Pretty impressive huh? And it just so happens that they're the perfect means for freeing Jak."

"Even I have to admit I'm quite impressed Keira. I always knew you had in you for great things like this."

"Thanks daddy. Oh, and Torn, we'll need Jinx too."

"Uhhh, sure. But, how'd you come up with a plan so fast?"

"Well, while you three were busy yelling at each other I took the opportunity to get a little thinking done. The plan's a little risky but, if we all stick to our roles it should go pretty smoothly."

"Great, but incase things don't go so smoothly where would a plan B come in?" They just stared at Daxter. "Fine. We'll just stick to one plan."

"Good. Then it's settled. What's your plan Keira?"

"Here's what we're gonna do..."

* * *

When Jak opened his eyes the first thing he saw was the dull, grey ceiling above him. He went to rub his eyes only to find that he couldn't. Looking to his left he saw his arm was strapped down. To the right was the same thing. "Great." He moaned. He's had enough of being strapped to steel tables to last him a lifetime. Not to mention the constant reminder of it...

He was trying to break free when a bright light was shoved in his face. "Well, look who's finally awake. Struggle all you want boy. There's no escape. I'll make sure of that."

"You've got some fascination with bright lights don't you?" Jak figured he was already in for it, so why not be smart about it?

"And I see you've got some fascination with ruining my plans. But that's not going to last much longer, because now you're going to help me."

"I don't think so." He could feel his anger rising.

"But you already have. You were, after all, so kind as to bring me the Light Eco crystal I requested from the Metal Heads."

"That was you who's been behind the Metal Heads?"

"Of course fool, who else?! Anyways, back to what I was saying-"

"There isn't anything you can say that's gonna convince me to join the likes of you."

"Who said I was going to convince you of anything? And you've got a lot of nerve saying the 'likes of me'. Take a look at yourself. What about the likes of _you_?" Jak wanted so badly to tear him to shreds and make him wish he was never born. But he couldn't. The results of that would be horrific and exactly what Krag wanted. He was only toying with him, deliberately testing his limits to see how well he could restrain himself or if he could at all. And that's when it all made since.

"You're trying to make me look like a monster." Jak was well aware of all the security cameras and if he did anything, Krag would make it look like he was the bad guy, and then use the footage to make Haven hate him.

"Bravo. And it only took you a few years to figure that out."

"What?"

"You see, back before I was made a member of the Krimzon Guard, I was an Eco scientist." Jak opened his mouth to say something but was cut off. "No, I was not studying to become an Eco sage. I didn't really have an interest in learning how to control the Eco, just how it affected things. At first, it was just a harmless little interest like 'Why does Green Eco make things grow?' and 'Why does it heal things?' But eventually I grew bored of that and decided to go a different route, since everyone already knew the answers to those questions. I started heading towards more dangerous territory, one that was less known. I began experimenting with Dark Eco. The university I was in kicked me out because they felt it was too dangerous. So I-"

"Let me guess, you got angry, joined the Guard, and started helping with the Dark Warrior program as some form of revenge?" At this point Jak would've rather been vaporized if it didn't mean listening to Krag's life story.

"Ugh, you just feel the need to screw up everything don't you? Yes, that's pretty much accurate except for one minor detail..."

"What? Did I forget to mention your mom?"

"No." He stated firmly. "I _started_ the Dark Warrior program."

"You what?!"

"Not so smug now are we? To make things shorter on your part the Baron was angry about losing so many soldiers to the war, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, I suggested that we try using Dark Eco to enhance their abilities."

"But you killed all those people! I'm the only one who survived, so what was the point? It looks to me like your idea was a failure. There's no unbeatable army or anything at your command."

"Right. Only a few thousand troops and Metal Heads, but what's so great about that? (Note the sarcasm) I already planned all of this out. You know, stay on the Baron's good side so he'll choose me as his successor when he goes. And create at least one Eco freak to use in my plans. That was my goal."

"But what about Erol? You couldn't have planned that."

"While his death wasn't entirely planned to be like that I do have to say that you've been a major part of my plan. If Erol hadn't blown himself up, I would've just killed him myself. But I will thank you for saving me the trouble. Now, back to more important business." Krag disappeared from view, but Jak could hear typing to his right.

"What? You're not gonna tell me your whole plan? You've already told me your life story."

"Do you really think I'm that stupid? And I know that smirk will come right off your face after this." After the last click, something behind Jak started to hum. "I'll tell you what though, just so you know how you died, I'm using you to charge up a little device I made. But don't worry it won't hurt a bit. Only a lot." And with that, he started the process.

* * *

"Alright, is everyone in position?" Keira was hiding behind a dumpster near the fortress while speaking into the comm.

"I'm all ready to rock 'n' roll! Let's save ol' chili pepper." Sig was situated in one of Keira's prototypes outside the city, obviously excited about being the first to use it.

"Roger." Torn was on a rooftop a couple blocks off with, much to his dismay, Daxter perched on his shoulder. "But I do wish I wasn't the one having to watch the rat."

"Sorry Torn, but Daxter _has _to be with you in order for this to work. Jinx, what about you?"

"I got the charges set. All I need is the signal."

"Perfect. Now remember, stick to the plan and we should have Jak out in no time."

* * *

**A/N: There ya go. One more chapter. Again, sorry about the wait but my computer was being stupid, and I had school, ****_and _****I was kinda being lazy. Well, review please. Oh, & this isn't going to be a remake of Jak 3, just something in between 2 & 3.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, yet another chapter. Well u know what to do.**

* * *

Ch. 6

After Krag started up the process, everything that happened was a blur. Jak would fade in and out of consciousness; the few times he was awake he would diminish whatever strength he had gathered trying to break free. At first, he had been screaming, but a few minutes later he didn't even have the strength to do that. When Krag said he'd use him as a human battery, he wasn't joking. It had only been a few minutes, but to Jak they felt more like hours. He just wanted it to stop. It felt like the life was being sucked out of him, which it probably was. Somewhere in the background he could hear Krag laughing his head off. As if this was funny. _"When I get out of here, I swear I'm gonna..." _Jak couldn't even finish the thought, as he blacked out once more.

* * *

"Alright. Here I go." Keira's plan was put into motion as she tried to get a passing Guard's attention by acting hurt. She didn't think any Guard would actually believe her, let alone stop and help which was why she prepared to do things the 'hard way'. In other words, if he didn't come she'd sneak up on him and knock him out with the pipe she brought. Much to her surprise, the Guard took the bait and came wandering down the alleyway. _"Perfect."_ She thought.

"Hello?"

"Over here!" He ran to where she was lying, clutching her leg in fake agony although he never knew the difference.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I...I was just walking when this...guy came out of nowhere and attacked me!" She had to bite the inside of her mouth a little to keep from laughing at how gullible the Guard was.

_"I can't believe they let people like this in." _She thought. The she saw that his badge read 'rookie'. _"Oh. Well that explains it." _She had been hoping for someone a little higher up, but he would have to do.

"Hold on. Let me see your leg." He knelt down to examine it, and Keira thought it was now or never.

"There he is!" She shouted and pointed behind him and he leapt up and turned in one smooth move.

_"Well at least he has some skills." _She thought as she brought the pipe down on the back of his head as hard as she could. He collapsed, and she saw the security card she was looking for. "I sure hope this'll get Torn and Daxter to where Jak is." She moved the unconscious Guard behind the dumpster before heading to the rendezvous point. "Here guys, catch!" Keira chucked the card up to Torn, who caught it with ease. "That should get you through some of the security, but I'm not entirely sure. The Guard that came was a new recruit."

"Figures. Only a newbie would be so dumb. It'll have to do. Back when I was in the Guard most of the new ones did have access to the entire place, but we're just gonna have to hope that Krag hasn't changed that. C'mon rat. Let's go."

"HEY! Watch it with the name calling. If we weren't savin' Jak I would so-"

"You'd what?" Torn's menacing glare said 'if you know what's good for you, you'll stop talking.' Which Daxter did.

"Good luck guys. I'll be waiting in the other prototype in case things don't go as planned." She ran off, and Daxter and Torn got to business. They finally made their way to the top of the fortress, mostly due to Torn's knowledge on some of the security codes that were never changed from when he quit.

"Who woulda thought they'd have so much security on the roof! I almost don't wanna see the inside."

"It's a fortress. What did you expect? Now quit talking and get in the air vent. You need to lead." Daxter climbed inside and Torn followed, although he had a harder time due to his size. They crawled through the cramped space until they reached their goal: the location where they'd had the Dark Warrior program. They looked down through the vent, only to discover one very disturbing thing: Jak wasn't there. Torn pulled out his communicator and spoke in it as quietly as he could so his voice wouldn't echo throughout the entire place. "This is Torn. We've got a little problem here."

"What? What's wrong?" Keira had been in Prototype 2 (as it will now be called until I think of a name. The other will be referred to as Prototype 1) hoping that nothing would go wrong when Torn called.

"Jak's not here. We just checked the old experiment room and it's empty, save for a few passing Guards. Where should we go?"

"Uhhh. I'm not sure. If he's not there then that means that he could be anywhere inside the fortress. Try looking a little deeper. We can't move on with the plan until you two find him."

"Maybe I can get in touch with Ashelin. Hang on." Torn hung up and tried to reach Ashelin. He really hoped that she'd be able to help without getting herself into trouble. He didn't want Krag doing _anything _to hurt her. He'd been scared half to death when the Baron had threatened to kill her in order to get information out of him. Of course he would never admit that.

"Torn?"

"Ashelin!" He was relieved that she'd answered. "Listen, I know you're probably busy so I'll make this quick. Krag's got Jak and we need to-"

"He's in the basement."

"Wha-"

"I saw them carry him in when he was unconscious. It's bad Torn, really bad. I could hear screaming and Krag had mentioned something about charging a device that runs off Dark Eco. I'm no scientist but even I can figure that out. Where are you anyway?"

"In the air ducts, why?"

"You'll never reach him from there. Krag wanted that place to be isolated from the rest of the fortress so no one could get in undetected. It's got its own separate ventilation system. But if you can reach the hallway that leads to the elevator I might be able to get you in. But it'll be very dangerous for us."

"No. It's fine Ashelin. Just give us the directions and we'll figure it out. We've already got a distraction."

"Okay." She sent him a layout of the place and they made their way to the basement entrance. Upon reaching the spot directly above, a feeling of uncertainty washed over Torn.

"Something's very wrong here."

"What do ya mean? We've found Jak. All we've gotta do is bust him out after Jinx sets off the bombs." The two were whispering so they wouldn't be heard.

"Yeah, but... Ashelin said he was screaming."

"Yeah?" Daxter knew where this was headed and his voice was already shaking. He had a hunch he knew what Torn was going to say but didn't want to believe it until he heard it.

"I don't hear anything."

"Let's just tell Jinx to start blown' up stuff. The sooner we get him outta here the better."

"Jinx. You know what to do."

"Finally. It's about time!" There was an audible click on the other end, followed by a few more frantic ones before Jinx's voice was heard again. "Uhhh...I've got a bit of problem. The explosives don't wanna, well...explode."

"What?!" Torn hissed. "What do you mean you can't get them to explode?"

"The remote's not workin'. It might just be the range. Hold on, I'll see if getting closer will help." He hung up, leaving Daxter and Torn to wait it out.

"Great. Couldn't get any more inconvenient could it?" Daxter's nose twitched and he rubbed it.

"Just be quiet and hope Jinx gets his bombs to work. Because if they don't, then we're..." He trailed off once he noticed Daxter's nose twitching.

"Ah...ah...ahh..." Torn's hand was over Daxter's face in an instant. He held it there for about 30 seconds before Daxter gave him a thumbs up. Removing his hand, Torn quietly let out the breath he'd been holding.

"ACHOO!" Daxter's sneeze was loud enough to wake the dead. And alert a few dozen Guards to their presence.

"Daxter!" Torn shouted as blasts of Red Eco began shooting holes through their hiding place.

* * *

Krag watched in amusement as Jak pitifully struggled to free himself. _"How pathetic."_ He thought as he watched him pass out once again. _"I thought he would've put up more of a fight. And to think I spent all that money on better weapons just for him. What a waste." _Krag's thoughts were soon interrupted by one of his loyal lackeys.

"Sir. There's been a security breach on Level 12. Someone is in the fortress ventilation system."

"So then get them out! It's probably one of those Underground roaches here to free this one." He pointed towards Jak, who had regained consciousness and was once again trying to escape. He turned back to the Guard, who had yet to move. "Well, go take care of it! Can't you see I'm busy?!" The Guard ran out and Krag turned back to Jak. He grabbed his jaw and squeezed it, wanting to cause him as much pain as he could. "You don't seem to have a lot of life left in you. That's too bad. I was really hoping for a full charge." He squeezed harder, causing Jak to groan a little. Suddenly his eyes flew open and Krag let go and jumped back a bit. Jak's eyes were pure black.

* * *

"Torn! Daxter! Please come in!" Keira was desperately trying to reach them but with no luck. After Jinx told her about the bombs she didn't think it would be too much of a problem. But after a few moments she became worried when Jinx said he had fixed the problem and tried contacting them to see if they were ready but couldn't get them to answer. At first she thought her plan was nearly flawless. But now everything was falling apart. She finally decided that they weren't going to answer. "Jinx, set off the bombs. We don't have time to wait if something did go wrong."

"Alright, it's your call. I hope they're ready for the big boom!" He slammed the button with his fist and the bombs went off.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger but I got tired of writing. Next chapter will be pretty awesome though. Well I hope so anyway.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ok, I think this chapter came out pretty good and I'll finally reveal what Keira's prototypes are.**

* * *

Ch. 7

When Jak regained consciousness he noticed he was no longer staring at a dull grey ceiling, nor was he strapped to a metal table. Instead, he was lying in sand with his left arm soaked from being in the water. He went to get up when he suddenly felt a surge of pain. His entire body ached badly, and he couldn't even remember why. The last thing he remembered was having the life practically sucked out of him. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't recall anything after that. Getting up much slower than before he looked at his surroundings. _"Am I at...the pumping station? How'd I get all the way out here?" _Furrowing his eyebrows, he was going to head through the city entrance when a peculiar sight stopped him. A massive cruiser was flying towards him. "Great." He moaned. "They've already found me again. Well this time I'm not gonna go down without a fight." He reached for his Morph Gun, only to find it missing. Now he knew he was done for.

"Jak!"

"Keira?" The cruiser landed and the windshield opened to reveal Keira, Torn, Daxter, Sig and Jinx. Keira stepped out and tossed the Morph Gun to Jak.

"Looking for something hero?"

"I...how did you...where did you get that thing?" Jak was still astonished at the sight of the massive cruiser. It was at least 5x the size of a KG's, and way scarier. It was colored blue and white, had enough guns to make even the Baron himself turn tail and run, and had four very large all-terrain tires, which at the moment were out so the ship could land.

"Oh, this? I made it myself out of spare parts I found and whatever was left of zoomers you blew up near the hideout. I had another, but I had to destroy in order to get you out of Krag's clutches."

"How did I escape?" The moment Jak said this they all stared at him with their mouths open, and even Torn was shocked beyond words.

"You...really don't remember?"

"No...I just know I woke up feeling extremely sore." Keira still stared at him for a moment before going on.

"But Jak. You destroyed like...everything. And you really don't remember a thing?"

"Look, the last thing I remember before waking up here was that Krag was using me to charge something. Everything after that's a blank."

"Dang, chili pepper. I know you can be reckless but causing all that damage and not remembering a thing? That's just...I don't what to say."

"Alright, will somebody please tell me what happened?"

"I'll tell ya Jak!" Daxter went flying towards him and made himself comfortable on his shoulder. "But first thing's first. I just wanna say, that I am SO glad you're back! You seriously don't know what it's been like riding on ol' ink face's shoulder. It's bony and uncomfortable and he kept yelling at me. But back to the story." Daxter changed the subject after receiving Torn's death glare. "What happened was..."

* * *

Flashback

"Daxter!" Torn yelled.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't keep it in!" They were both frantically dodging shots as the vent was turned into Swiss cheese. One shot narrowly avoided Daxter's face, and another grazed past Torn's ear. With limited space and a rapid loss of the floor they weren't sure how much longer they'd last.

"Jinx better have those bombs fixed!" Just as Torn said this, there was a loud rumble, followed by another. The noise escalated until it sounded like a dangerous thunderstorm. Soon after, the ceiling began to crumble. Large chunks of metal and whatever else was used to support the building came crashing down to the ground.

"Everyone scatter!" One of the Guards yelled before he was barely missed by a hunk of metal. "The place is coming down! Evacuate! Go! Go!" They all forgot about Torn and Dax and fled for their lives. Not long after the Guards cleared out the rumbling stopped, and the sky wasn't falling anymore.

"Phew! That was cuttin' it close, eh Torn?" Daxter took a step which was followed by a loud creaking. "Uh oh. I hope that by some chance that was your stomach."

"Nope. Lookout!" The vent gave way and took Daxter and Torn with it. It crashed to the floor with an extremely loud bang and was simply added to the other debris littering the floor. Torn broke his way out, and Daxter popped up from a pile of metal.

"Well...it coulda been worse."

"Whatever you say fur ball. Now let's get Jak before those Guards figure out it was a distraction and add us to this pile of rubble." Daxter gulped. They were about to try to hack the security lock on the door, but a loud thud stopped them. It was followed by another, and then a bang.

"What the..." Torn jumped to the side when a second bang sounded, much closer to the door this time, and then Krag came crashing through. He rolled across the ground a few feet before finally stopping. He lifted himself to his knees, then wiped some of the blood from his mouth. Upon seeing the duo he grinned a little.

"Well, it seems your friend has quite the temper. He really does live up to his reputation." He then tossed a small bomb into the doorway, and it went off on impact.

"But Jak would never-"

"Torn, I know you're probably gonna tell me to shut up but you should really listen to me on this one. Jak's not himself right now. I've seen him when he gets like this and it ain't pretty. We need to get outta here now. Jak can handle himself." Torn knew Daxter was being honest; he could tell by the hint of fear in his voice. But after going through all this trouble there was no way he was going to back down now. "Please Torn ya gotta listen to me." Torn was going to argue when suddenly the whole reason why Dax was freaked out came walking through the door as if he had never been hit by a bomb in the first place. There stood Dark Jak, with more bolts of Eco flying off than usual. Which was surprising considering the fact that Krag had spent the last twenty minutes or so draining it from him. That meant either two things: overload, or he was just really, really ticked off. In this case it may have been both. Jak, or what they thought was Jak, turned to look at Torn like he was going to slap him just for the fun of it, when he changed his mind and set his sights back on Krag. He growled and stomped towards him with a murderous look in his eyes. Whatever Krag did or said to tick him off this badly wasn't going to have good results. He grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up and then punched him the face so hard that he went flying backwards yet again. He then continued towards him to beat him some more.

Torn finally took the hint and quietly snuck around him. He was just walking out in the open now. What was the point of hiding when everyone knew you were there? That and the fortress was oddly empty. Torn saw this as an immediate issue. His time in the Guard made him become very aware of his surroundings, and he knew that an entire fortress full of Guards ready to shoot anything that wasn't there own wouldn't just vanish because of a few explosives. They weren't even meant to do much damage, just rattle the place a bit.

"Where is everybody?" Daxter had noticed the eerie silence as well, save for the sounds of Krag getting it handed to him.

"I don't know and I don't like it. Keira, this is Torn. How's everything on your end?"

"Torn! You guys are okay! I thought something awful happened when Jinx said he couldn't reach you."

"Well you can thank the rodent for that. He sneezed and caused the Guards to start firing at us. We're fine now so don't worry."

"Did you find Jak?" Daxter and Torn exchanged glances trying to decide if they should tell her. After all, they were well aware of how much Keira disliked the idea of Jak going monster on everyone.

"He's uh...havin' a little 'chat' with Krag." Daxter flinched. It wasn't really supposed to come out like that.

"Oh. Well anyway you two should get out of there. I'll tell Sig to pick you guys up."

"Alright. C'mon rat, let's go." They were nearing the elevator they'd used to get there when the doors suddenly opened to reveal an army. Guards, drones, and even a few Blast Bots were all prepared to fight it out.

"Oh crap." That was all Daxter could say before they began to open fire. "Hey! This isn't ottsel season! Torn do something!" Torn dove behind a wall and fired a few rounds with his own gun. Of course, it was nothing in comparison to the multitude of shots coming from just around the corner. "Ya know, you could try hitting something!" Daxter shouted when Torn missed another target by a longshot.

"Why don't you shoot 'em without gettin' hit yourself?" Whenever Torn tried to aim, a blast would cause him to move and completely miss his target. Eventually he just started shooting randomly. His thought was if it hit something than he'd be happier than before. Then, as suddenly as the shots started, they'd stopped. A couple seconds later they started firing again, but in a different direction. This peaked Torn's curiosity and he glanced around the corner to see what was going on. On a platform above stood Dark Jak. He never made any attempt to move from the shots; he just stood there, occasionally growling at the shot that would hit him in the face or chest. After a few minutes, the Guards and even the robots stopped shooting, seeing that it was doing no damage. He then threw Krag's unconscious body (unconscious, not dead) at the closest Guard before jumping as high in the air as he could.

"Uhhh, Torn? We need to book it. Like now!"

"Got it." Torn didn't hesitate to get into the elevator and jam his fist into the up button. The doors closed just in time to see Jak begin his descent with Dark Eco crackling around his fist. They could only hope the elevator would last long enough for them to get away.

Dark Jak's fist collided with the ground and sent every object in the vicinity spiraling through the air with a massive shockwave of energy. Unfortunately for Torn and Dax, the lower half of the shaft began to give way. They were a good ways up by then, but the damage was a lot faster than the elevator. It jolted and the lights flickered, and Torn took it as a cue to leave. "Daxter, get up there and open the emergency hatch!" He did just that, and they pulled themselves to the top of the elevator. By some stroke of luck, they had made it to the door and jumped off just in time to grab the ledge before the elevator went crashing down the shaft. It landed with a massive bang and the sound of metal crunching. Torn managed to pry the doors open (with little help from Daxter even though he was trying) and they continued their way to the exit.

When the elevator crashed down Jak surfaced for just a moment out of concern for his friends. "Guys?" That was ended shortly after a well aimed shot hit him directly in-between the shoulder blades. His anger re-ignited, he spun around and clawed at the Guard's armor, shredding the chest plate. The Guard was lucky it was only that. Another group of Guards emerged and began shooting. This time they were much better shots and hardly missed no matter how much Dark Jak moved. One shot hit him on the cheek and that's when he lost it. He began slashing at the Guards, regardless if they were hurt or not. He grabbed one's gun and snapped it in two single-handedly before grabbing him by the face and hurling him across the room. Another may have broken a few ribs due the hard blow that Dark Jak delivered to his chest followed by a disturbing crunch. But the tiny bit of concern left in Jak simply dismissed it as his armor. It didn't take him very long to finish them off; most had gotten their butt's kicked or fled. But he was far too angry to stop there. Dark Jak continued his violent rampage throughout the fortress until he reached the prison room. Memories of past experiences flooded him and just the sight of that chair in the middle of the room made him want to obliterate something. Which he did.

Torn and Daxter had just made it out of the fortress and were being picked up by Sig a little ways off when it happened. There was a massive explosion, and a large plume of smoke appeared in the direction of the fortress. "Well that doesn't look good." Sig commented.

"You don't think Jinx could've over done it with explosives do ya?"

"This is Jinx. Did you see that HUGE explosion at the fortress?! That was awesome! Even I'm impressed. I haven't seen a boom that big since the time I got some explosive mix messed up."

"Does that answer your question Daxter?"

"Yup."

"C'mon! Let's go check it out." Sig maneuvered Prototype 1 towards the direction of the fortress. When they got there, it was definitely a shocking sight. A large part of the building's side was blown off, and there were Guards everywhere shooting at something. It turns out that something was Jak. Well, Dark Jak anyway. After all the destruction he caused, most of his Eco was gone, and he was definitely feeling the shots. Although they didn't pierce his skin, they stung badly every time they hit him. There was nowhere for him to hide, and he was surrounded. Sig had kept his distance and hovered high enough to not be noticed by tons of Guards focused on killing something.

"We've gotta help him!" Daxter yelled while pressing his face against the windshield. As if on cue, Keira came flying in with Prototype 2 and was going straight for the Guards.

"Hold on Jak!" She ejected and the cruiser plowed down some of the Guards, clearing a path for Jak in the process. He took off, and the Guards took note of the count down timer in the cruiser.

"Oh great. Run for it!" Most got away, but a few unlucky ones were caught in the blast and were sent face first into buildings or the ground. Sig lowered a grapple for Keira and she climbed up to the cockpit.

"Nice one!" Daxter offered a high five, but Keira ignored it after seeing Jak run past people to who knows where.

"Where's he going? Sig, try to keep up with him."

"Alright." He followed Dark Jak so far, only to lose him in the crowd of people running and screaming for their lives. "Man, why do people always have to get in the way at the worst times?" Even though they couldn't see where he had gone, they soon figured out how to track him upon seeing the damage he caused.

"Sig, follow the destruction. It's bound to lead us to Jak." Keira folded her arms and bit her lip. She hoped they could get to Jak before anyone else did. Although it's not like the Guards could do much now. Along the way they picked up Jinx, who told them he'd seen Jak heading towards the pumping station.

End flashback

* * *

"And that's pretty much what happened." Daxter finished his story with a long stretch. "Of course, if it wasn't for me, you'd still be in that mess." There's Daxter's usual twist in the story that never happened.

"I can't believe I did all that."

"Well, you did. Oh, by the way, nice explosion. I'm proud. I've barely managed to do that much damage with three of my 'special' bombs." Jinx patted him on the shoulder, but Jak was much too lost in his thoughts to even notice. He was worried about how that could've happened.

* * *

"How much damage?" Krag was in one of the infirmaries, along with plenty of other Guards.

"Sir, you're pretty beat up. You should really-"

"I said, how much damage?!"

"Well, you've got three broken ribs, a broken arm, and both your legs are pretty weak. One's broken and-"

"Not on me you fool! I could've figured that out for myself. I meant the fortress."

"Oh, well...the west wing is pretty badly damaged. And the holding cells are no longer um...useable. It seems that when, whatever he was, destroyed the Injector, it caused a very serious explosion. Not enough to bring the place down as you can see, but enough to cause a few setbacks."

"But nothing from my 'project' was damaged, right?"

"No sir. It's okay. But he didn't stay long enough for it to fully charge."

"No matter. What I have is enough. He'll get his once I tie up a few loose ends."

"Or piece them back together, as the case may be." The doctor muttered it under his breath, but Krag still heard.

"Shut it! Or you'll be in here too. I can always 'accidently' have a robot go haywire on you." The doctor immediately shut his mouth.

"This time, Jak is absolutely going to die." (Aaand, cue evil laugh)

* * *

**A/N: Well this took longer than I expected. Btw, the laugh is for dramatic effect because you always have an evil laugh included somewhere. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay I know it's been a while but I haven't had a lot of time to update lately. Anyway, this chapter is mostly gonna be about what happens to Jak at the hideout cuz after all that I figure he needs a little love. Also I fixed some small errors in some of the other chapters.**

* * *

Ch. 8

After the unusually quiet ride back to the hideout, pretty much everyone was beat and decided to get some rest. They were definitely gonna need it in case Krag ever tried something like that again. The command room was empty except for the four people who weren't sleeping just yet. Jak, Keira, Samos, and Daxter were the only ones up right now. Even Torn had gone out like a light. Each one had their own personal reasons for not sleeping. Keira was worried about Jak's behavior lately, Samos was worried about how Jak took all that damage and hadn't really shown the slightest sign of severe injuries, Jak was afraid of having nightmares, and Daxter, being the action man he was, just didn't want miss out on anything that might happen. The awful silence was broken by a loud yawn coming from Dax. "Y'know Daxter, you could just go to bed." Keira said after the ottsel yawned again only much louder this time.

"And miss out on some action? No way!"

"What action Daxter? I bet even Krag is asleep right now. Nothing exciting is going to happen. All I'm doing is packing away the rest of my medical supplies I used on Jak. Speaking of which, are you absolutely certain that you're alright? If what everyone's told me is true, then it's a wonder how you're still alive. Any-"

"Any normal person would've died way before I got picked up. Yeah, I get that."

"Jak, he's just trying to help. There's no reason to snap at him. Why don't we go to bed? We could all use some sleep after everything that's happened." Samos and Daxter left after a quick argument about Samos stepping on Dax's tail as they were going through the door, and Jak went to follow but was stopped by Keira. "Hey. Are you okay? I know you're probably sick of everyone asking you that but...Y'know, you don't look so okay."

Jak didn't even have the heart to lie to Keira and say he was fine anymore. "To tell you the truth, I'm not so okay." His gaze never met hers, he just stared at the floor.

"Jak, what's wrong? You know you can tell me anything right?"

"I know. It's just...you wouldn't understand." He tried to walk away but was stopped once again.

"I know you. There isn't anything you can tell me that I would get upset about. Now c'mon. Where's that cheerful boy from Sandover?" Keira lifted Jak's head so he'd look at her.

"He died two years ago."

"Or did he just get buried in a little sand like the time you and Dax tried to use part of a log as a makeshift surfboard?" That managed to make Jak crack a smile. Good memories were one of the few things that kept Jak somewhat happy and semi-sane. His friends were a major contribution though. Without them, he didn't even want to think of what would happen to him. Suddenly a favorite saying from a familiar voice rang through his mind.

_"You can't always do everything by yourself, Jak. Sometimes the best way to help is to seek it." _Jak smiled to himself as he thought back to the day Samos said this. _His words earned him a confused look from the silent boy. "Don't worry. You'll understand what I mean later. Just always remember to-What the?! Daxter!" __**Whack **__"Don't touch those!"_

"Hello? Earth to hero." Jak opened his eyes to find himself looking at Keira's slightly confused face, instead of an annoyed Daxter's after being hit with a staff. "You still awake? It looked like I'd lost you for a second. What were you thinking about?"

"Oh...nothing. Listen, there's something that I kind of wanted to tell you...well someone at least. But I figured you should be the first to know. Just don't tell any one. Not even Daxter." They both sat down and Keira leaned forward with interest, wondering what in the world could be so secret that Jak didn't even want to tell his best friend. She felt privileged, honored even, that he would tell her something so important, but at the same time was also worried.

"_Why wouldn't he want to tell Dax? Does it have to do with him?"_ Her questions were about to be answered as Jak started to speak.

"So...here's the thing. I'm not really sure how to explain this, and I doubt you'll really understand, but it's worth a shot since I need the advice. The Dark Eco...it feels like it's becoming...sentient, I guess. I mean, not as a living thing or anything but, like it has a mind or something. Lately I've been having these nightmares about losing control and well...killing...you and the others. Or being forced to watch it. I've never really had too much of a problem with it as long as I don't have too much Dark Eco in me." He stopped, not knowing how to go on.

"That's why you've been using your powers so much, isn't it? And why you went berserk at the fortress. Your anger is what ignites that fire in you, and with too much Dark Eco you feel overloaded don't you? Of course, if I had a voice taunting me I'd be pretty sour too. It's okay Jak. We're all here for you. You don't have to hide anything from any of us."

"I know. But I didn't want to worry you guys. You've got enough problems to deal with."

"But not as many as you, Jak." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We've all got our own personal issues to handle. Some are bigger than others, yes. But others may need a little more attention. You should have told me this sooner instead of dismissing it as nothing. I'm your friend, I'd set aside anything to help you. Daxter and daddy too. I'm sure even Torn would. Please promise me you'll come to me if something like this starts happening again." The pleading look on her face was one that would melt anyone's heart.

"Alright. I'm sorry I never told you. I promise I'll keep you posted."

"And if things get bad, you tell everyone. Otherwise I guess it can wait until you're ready."

"O.K."

"Thanks for telling me this Jak. It means a lot." Keira hugged him, and he didn't hesitate to return it.

"You're welcome. And thanks for listening."

"No problem." She broke the hug and stood up. "Now, let's get some rest shall we? I don't about you but I'm beat."

"Me too." He was, in fact, quite drained both physically and emotionally. Who wouldn't be? He got up, said good night, and headed to his room. Little did he know that a certain ottsel, who was thinking he was gonna have to stop another kiss, had heard everything and scampered off before he was spotted. When Jak entered the room, Daxter pretended to be asleep, which did the trick. Now he was much too awake to go to sleep.

He laid there thinking _"I told Samos something exciting would happen."_

* * *

"How is everything?" Due to his lack of mobility, Krag was forced to communicate through the comm. Right now, he was checking up on his creation.

"While it's not fully charged it will still get the job done." One of the many scientists working on the device was giving Krag a status update. He had asked five minutes ago, and the scientist assumed he was either bored or impatient. The scientist really hoped it was boredom, because he'd heard about the threat made to the doctor.

"Tomorrow I want it activated but only use 10% of the power. I don't need those many Metal Heads to come crawling into the city. Just enough to keep those little 'heroes' distracted while a Guard goes and gets that Light Eco crystal before someone else does."

"Understood sir." The call was ended, and Krag couldn't help but think his plan was foolproof. Build a device that attracts Metal Heads with Dark Eco? Check. Charge the device? Check. Gather the only thing that would stop him? Check. Have a plan to take over a city? Check. Have a plan B? Check. Take control of a city? That was the only thing on Krag's list that wasn't a check. But he was determined to make it one.

* * *

**A/N: It's a bit short but I thought it'd be nice to take a break from all the action. I'm not so sure about how the next chapter will go so if you have any ideas post them in the comments. I've got some, but I'm not sure if I like them and I kinda just wanna see what you might have in mind.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Okay I know it's been like forever but I've had a looong week. Anyways I do wanna say thanks to Sage for the ideas because mine didn't really fit the story too well, so thanks. I'll try to update a little quicker too.**

* * *

Ch. 9

Jak grunted as he wiped a drop of water of his face in his sleep. Another one fell, and then two more. Finally compelled to open his eyes, he was met with a Metal Head staring him in the face. As it turns out, it was saliva not water. "What the-" _**Bang! **_The Metal Head fell and hit the floor with a dull thud. Standing in the doorway was none other than Torn, who was placing his gun back in its holster.

"Well, I see you got your wake up call. C'mon. We've got a city to defend." He turned and left, and Jak got up. Daxter, who had woken up after Torn left, jolted up screaming his head off.

"AH! We're under attack! I'm too young to die!" Jak slapped his hand over his mouth and motioned for him to follow. They walked into the command room and saw Torn loading up a few guns.

"What's going on?" Jak asked as he loaded up the Morph Gun.

"Somehow Metal Heads broke into the city and are attacking it. You know the drill. We go in hard and take 'em all out."

"Uh, question. Why did you send in a Metal Head to wake us up? Why not a nice, cup of hot coffee or something?"

"You mean you want me to scorch your fur with some hot coffee?" Torn stopped for a moment to give Daxter a serious look that said he wasn't joking.

"Never mind."

"Lock 'n' load pretty boy. There're tons of 'em out there." Jinx walked by with a backpack full of various explosives.

"What about Keira and Sig? Are they gonna help?"

"Sig's busy, and Samos didn't want Keira out there so they're staying behind to defend the hideout with Prototype 1." Jak nodded and cocked his gun ready to head into battle until he remembered something.

"Wait!" They stopped and looked at him. "I think I know how this happened."

"Whatever it is it'll have to wait Jak. People are dying out there."

"Yeah, and the Guards not doin' a thing about it. I've only seen about four of 'em actually botherin' to shoot." Jinx stood next to Torn.

"No, what I mean is that Krag must've done it. With that device he was charging. It must attract Metal Heads or something." Torn and Jinx looked at each other, then at Jak. Suddenly Torn had an idea.

"Alright, change of plans. I'll handle the attack, you and Jinx need to go destroy that device. If it gets bad enough, I'll see if I can get Keira to help."

"I am helping." Keira waltzed in and stopped next to Jak. "There's no way that the three of you can fight off all those Metal Heads. I'll fly above and give you guys some covering fire, okay?"

"Don't get yourself hurt Keira."

"I'll be fine Jak. If daddy let me go then I'm sure it's not that bad. I can take care of myself."

"But if we're all out there, then who's gonna watch the fort? Old greeny can't do it."

"Which is why you're going to help. There's a turret in front. Type 165748 in the keypad hidden next to the door and start shooting at anything that nears the place. Just don't end up a snack, rodent." With that Torn and the others headed out the door before Dax could even argue. At least Keira and Jak gave him an encouraging 'good luck'.

As soon as they walked out, dozens of Metal Heads stopped what they were doing and came at them. They immediately started shooting. Even Jinx had his pistol and got in a few shots. "This ways clear, let's go!" Torn took off and they followed. Keira came a few seconds later with Prototype 1. She began firing and killed at least thirty Metal Heads within seconds.

"Keira! Cover Torn! Jinx and I can handle it ourselves!" Jak had to shout into the comm. in order for her to hear.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" He looked over at Torn. "Torn, if you see Grim, send him to us. We could use his help with breaking in."

"I'll see if I can find him. He may be one of the few out here." They departed and Jak and Jinx made their way to the fortress. Metal Head after Metal Head charged at them, and despite Jak's efforts, it was quite a task fending them off. Jinx wasn't too much of a help either. He'd occasionally fire a shot or two, but other than that he'd rely on Jak for the most part.

"You could help a little more." Jak shot another Metal Head in the face.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one carrying all the bombs." Jinx ducked just before a Metal Head who lunged off the roof could tackle him and managed to shoot a zoomer in its jets, causing it to explode next to the creature, killing it with shrapnel and flames.

"Why not actually use them?" The last Metal Head in the area was killed by a blow to the chest and it was clear.

"Because," Jinx said while dusting himself off. "I'm savin' 'em for that device. Of course, seeing as how you took out part of the fortress before, I guess I could spare a few." They continued to the fortress and were almost there when a Guard showed up out of nowhere.

"I heard you two needed a hand getting in."

"Grim! Buddy, how've ya been? I haven't spoken to ya in a while." Jinx shook his hand, glad to see one of his old co-workers.

"I'm fine. But obviously neither of you are. Unfortunately, I've got bad news. I can't get you into the fortress. Heck, I can't even get myself in."

"What do you mean? You're a guard aren't you?" Jak had really hoped that something useful would come from Grim.

"I am, but Krag's locked down the fortress. He said any Guard who would dare go out there and help would be considered dead. Which, I'm sure most probably are but...I couldn't leave everyone out here to just die so a few others and I got most of 'em indoors before the attack. There were some that wouldn't...listen and...well Y'know. Anyways Krag's denied access to the place and I'm not sure how much this attack will last. The device was only charged at around 20%."

"This is only _20%_? We need to shut this thing down permanently. I don't want to see what'll happen at 100%." Jak started off again and the other two followed. When they made it to the fortress they could see that it was locked up tight and didn't have a single opening anywhere. "There's no way to get in."

"So what do we do now Blondie? Even my explosives can't crack that metal."

"I tried to tell you two."

"I guess we'll just have to wait until Torn and Keira are done clearing out the city. Maybe they can get us in. It looks like the Metal Heads are thinning out so we should be safe." Jak sat down next to a building and Jinx and Grim just shrugged and sat next to him.

* * *

Torn took off firing at every Metal Head that either Keira missed or lunged at him from a hiding place. There were swarms of them, but thankfully everyone had taken shelter indoors. He shot one right in between the eyes and another in the skull, causing the gem to go flying out. It started with the normal sized ones and the scorpions, but they slowly got larger until suddenly he was facing off against massive ones walking on four of their six legs firing Dark Eco. He was pretty sure he spotted a few flying ones too. "Keira! How're you doing up there?"

"I'm fine Torn, don't worry." Just as she said this, a blast of Eco shot one of the engines, and the whole cruiser went spiraling downwards.

"Keira!" Torn heard the crash from a couple blocks over and sprinted to her location not bothering to shoot any Metal Heads that tried to slash him with claws or bite him. When he got there he was somewhat relieved to see the cruiser in one piece and not engulfed in flames. He killed the group of Metal Heads that crowded around and then ran to the driver side and forced the windshield open. "Keira, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Torn, but my arm hurts."

"Let me see." He reached out to grab her arm, but the second he touched she winced in pain. Anyone with common sense could figure out it was broken. "You can't drive like this. Move over." Torn helped her into the passenger seat and then hopped behind the steering wheel. He stomped his foot on the gas pedal and mowed down the remainder of the Metal Heads in the area. Despite taking a landing like that, the prototype was still quite operational. It just couldn't fly anymore. While turning a corner he jammed on brakes to avoid hitting the lone Guard shooting up Metal Heads.

"Grim?"

"Torn?"

"Grim you have to go find Jak. He's going to the fortress with Jinx to try and destroy that device. I'm sure they'll need help getting in."

"I'll try and help. But since you've got that thing why don't you finish off the Metal Heads over here. There shouldn't be too many left."

"Got it." Torn drove off and Grim went to go find Jak.

* * *

After about five minutes of just sitting there shooting the occasional scorpion that would appear, the trio grew bored of waiting. Jak decided to call Torn to see if he could help them get inside. "Torn it's Jak. Are you and Keira done yet? The fortress is locked up and we don't have any other choice but a frontal assault. Grim says he can't get us inside."

"Right. Well, I'm in Prototype 1 with Keira so I'll see if I can blast it open. By the way, Keira's hurt. She broke her arm in a rough landing after being shot down by some Metal Head. Don't worry she's safe and sound, just in a little pain. I'm almost there so when you see me coming make sure you move." Torn hung up and Jak heard the engine in the distance.

"C'mon guys. We gotta move now or we'll end up road kill." They ran about a block away and Torn came flying up to the fortress before stopping abruptly. He locked onto a door and prepared to blast it with everything he had. The second the missiles hit the door, they blew it up and the shockwave shook the ground a bit. When the dust cleared there was a huge hole in the wall that was way bigger than what Torn had expected.

"Torn, maybe we should go back to the hideout and check on Daxter and my father. What if we missed some Metal Heads?"

"I'm sorry Keira but we'll have to hope for the best. We have to stay and help Jak and Jinx."

"I'll go if you want." They all looked at Grim. They were surprised he'd even offer.

"If you could please, Grim. Don't worry about us. Jinx and I can handle it." Grim nodded and left. Jak and Jinx prepared themselves for the worst when they stepped inside. They'd told Torn to stay with Keira and provide covering fire for when they escaped. Once they were a good ways inside, they were both rather unnerved at the fact that there wasn't a single Guard in sight. There hadn't even been an alarm.

"Uh...was it like this the last time you were here?" Jinx was slowly scanning every shadowy corner as if to make sure the place was really empty and he wasn't hallucinating.

"No. The place was swarming with Guards. They must've been expecting us." Jak thought he saw something move in his peripheral and turned his head to look. He was met with the sight of an empty corridor. "C'mon. The sooner we blow up this thing the sooner we get out of here." They continued walking and had even made it to the elevator leading to the basement, which had been quickly repaired, and got in. Jak pushed the button and down they went. When the doors opened, they weren't met with an army of Guards like they were expecting. Instead, it was an empty room.

"I really don't like this." Jinx's fear was beginning to show itself as he became jumpy and nervous. Jak on the other hand, managed to keep a cool head.

"This isn't right." The place was seemingly empty. The only sounds were Jak and Jinx's footsteps, the faint hiss of a pipe, and mechanical noises. Wait, what? Jak looked behind him and caught sight of a Krimzon Guard robot lurking up above. It jumped down and landed right in front of him. It was followed by many others.

"Great. It was a trap." Jinx pulled out his pistol while Jak took out the Morph Gun. They were ready to start blasting when Krag's voice suddenly sounded throughout the fortress.

"I bet you thought it would be easy to try and stop me. You thought you'd just waltz in here and blow up my machine didn't you? Well, while you may have beaten most of my human soldiers, I still have plenty robot ones. And you'll find that machines won't be frightened away like humans. Also, do you want to know the best thing about robots? I can always make more. Have fun." He laughed and shut off the comm. Jak and Jinx found themselves surrounded by KG droids.

"Maybe we can take out the assembly line crankin' out these babies. Then we can-"

"Too many lines, too much security." Jak was firing the Peacemaker and while it took out large quantities with electrostatic blasts, it wasn't enough to stop the endless waves of robots. He suggested that they get down to the device pronto and then book it out of there. They slowly backed towards the door to the lab but found it locked. "Jinx, you know what to do."

"Got it." He took a few charges out of his bag and placed them on the door. "Stand back it's gonna blow!" They stepped back a bit and the bombs blew open the door. Due to Jak's rage before, there were no Guards whatsoever. They ran inside and while Jinx was throwing bombs at the robots Jak was busy trying to figure out how the device worked. Unfortunately, this was only the battery. It wasn't the actual device that was attracting the Metal Heads. Looking around, Jak noticed the pipes leading up through the floor and into the ceiling, most likely leading to the device. "Hurry up! I'm runnin' outta bombs here!" Knowing they didn't have enough time to find the device, Jak went for plan B.

"Jinx. Place a few charges on those pipes there. We can't destroy the device itself right now but we can slow down Krag's plan."

"You got it." They switched places. Jinx was at the machine and Jak was holding off the robots. For every one he blew up, three more took its place. Finally Jinx finished setting the charges. He set the timer for five minutes, which would hopefully be enough time for them to get away from the room and out of there. "Why don't you go berserk on this guys? It'll be a lot easier." Jak considered what Jinx said. After last time he wasn't sure he wanted to again. But they were very outnumbered and Jak wasn't keen on getting caught a second time. Suddenly he heard the voice that had been nagging him again.

**_"Why don't you let me handle it?"_**

_"Because you're bound to go crazy again."_

_**"Oh come on. Don't tell me you weren't glad for that. Besides, I'll stay long enough for you to escape. How's that sound?" **_Jak really didn't want to reason with the voice right now but he didn't have a choice.

"Fine."

"Fine what?" Jak had almost forgotten about Jinx.

"Nothing. Listen, I'm gonna go Dark on these robots. Just stay outta the way alright?"

"Okay." Jak felt the Eco overtake him and pretty soon he was destroying every robot in sight. Now he was keeping up the amount of robots that were being manufactured. He waited for Jinx to get in the elevator and held off the robots while he went up. After a few moments Jak figured it was long enough for Jinx and decided to leap up the shaft. He busted through, and they headed out of the fortress. Jak barreled through the last few robots with ease and they found themselves outside.

_"Alright. We're out now. You'd better give me control again." _Without an argument, Jak changed back to normal, and he and Jinx got into the prototype. They sped off to the hideout. When they got there, they saw Grim and Samos, but no Daxter. Jak was the first to run out of the prototype. "Daxter?! Where is he?" Grim showed him a tuft of orange fur.

Keira gasped. "Oh no."

"I'm sorry Jak." Samos came over and offered a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Even Torn looked a little taken aback. Although he'd never admit it, he actually would miss the ottsel's annoying voice and constant rambling. After a moment of silence they went inside. No one really wanted to say anything because they were far too upset.

Jak was about to go to his room when a sudden weight on his shoulder stopped him. "I'm gone for two minutes and everyone thinks I'm dead?" Everyone looked up, too stunned to speak.

"Daxter?" Jak patted his head to make sure he was real.

"Yeah, that is my name isn't it? I guess you're wondering what happened. Well, I got kinda freaked out by the Metal Heads and while I was running to go hide under a dumpster one snagged some fur on my tail." He pointed to his tail, which was in fact missing some fur.

"Thank goodness you're okay Dax." Keira came and hugged him. After getting kind words from everyone he and Jak went to bed. He was going to ask him how the raid went but he was much too tired.

* * *

Krag was still recovering from his injuries and was none too happy about Jak managing to delay his plans. He ordered his scientists to get to work on repairing the damage and began to think of a way to deal with that traitor: Grim. He saw the security footage showing him helping Jak out. He wasn't very happy about that either. "I'll just have to kill two birds with one stone." He said.

* * *

**A/N: And that's one more chapter. Ha I bet you thought I killed Daxter for real. No way, I like that fur ball too much. He's ridiculously funny at times. Let me know what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Alright so maybe I haven't updated as fast as I said I would, but I will try to get in a new chapter at least once a week. Most likely on the weekends. Also, PLEASE let me know if I have made any mistakes in grammar or spelling because being something of a perfectionist, things like that bug me. Anyway, R & R.**

* * *

Ch. 10

Jak thought about the huge fuss Keira had put up about having to wear a cast. While her father had managed to repair the break with his powers, nothing would save Keira from having to wear a cast for the next couple weeks. And absolutely nothing would save Samos from having to argue with his daughter about the issue. Just putting the cast on took a good 45 minutes. And to top it all off it ended in Samos and Keira being annoyed. Jak smiled at the memory. That was something he definitely didn't want to get involved in. If there's one thing he learned from being around Keira, it's when she gets mad, ALWAYS stay out of the way. He went to his room and immediately fell asleep.

Jak was actually sleeping pretty well tonight. His talk with Keira had put him at ease, and it was nice to have gotten it off his chest. His dreams were filled with happy memories from back when he was a kid living in Sandover. Unfortunately, his pleasant dreams were interrupted by a thin beam of light shining through a crack in the blinds. Oh, how he hated the sun for waking him up. But he knew he'd have to get up sooner or later. He sat up and stretched to loosen his muscles. Daxter jumped on his lap the second Jak was fully awake. "Hey."

"Hey Dax. What's the matter with you?" He noticed that Daxter seemed a bit more timid than usual.

"I uh...heard what you said to Keira last night." Jak sat there with wide eyes and his jaw slightly open. He had no idea where to start.

* * *

Krag was viewing the security tape for the hundredth time that day. In all honesty, he wasn't really surprised that Grim was a traitor. It explained his mysterious absences at times and why he was so determined to keep people safe. "Pity. I really wanted as many soldiers as I could get. Oh well. What's the loss of just one?" He leaned over and grabbed his communicator. "Ashelin. Get Grim for me. I'd like to speak with him."

"Yes sir." _"Oh no. He knows."_ Ashelin was trying hard to hide her fear as she went to get Grim. _"Poor guy. I hope he makes it out of this. Grim is a very good man. But if Krag knows about him then that means I'm next." _She was trying to think of a possible solution to help Grim as she neared him. _"Maybe I can him somewhere safe until this blows over." _"Grim." Ashelin tapped his shoulder. To her surprise, he didn't even jump.

"I know, Ashelin." The look on his face and the tone of his voice said he knew this was coming. He went to walk by but she stopped him.

"Grim, we both know what'll happen if you don't figure out a way to get out of this. Maybe you can hide out somewhere. Y'know, until Krag has been defeated."

"There's nowhere for me to hide in this city. I'm finished. Krag's probably gonna have me executed or something."

"There may not be a place for you in _this_ city, but...maybe in another."

"I still have to face him." Grim began walking away. "But do let me know when you've figured something out." He and Ashelin shared a knowing smile before Grim headed off to face Krag. He was really hoping he'd have a chance to survive.

* * *

"Daxter, how did you find out about that?" After staring blankly for a few minutes Jak had finally managed to speak.

"Well...ya see I thought you and Keira were gonna kiss again or somethin', and I figured I'd have to butt in again. But when I got to the doorway I ended up hearing your uh...'talk'. I can't believe you didn't wanna tell me. Keira is right Y'know. I'd stop what I was doing to help you out anytime. I know it's not supposed to bother me but I still feel kinda betrayed."

"I'm sorry Dax. It's just that...I'm not very good with things like that and I...wasn't really sure how to go about it."

"I forgive ya." They both smiled, and Torn popped up.

"Awww, how adorable. A man and his rat." The sarcasm in his voice was beyond obvious. "If you two are done here, we've got a war to get back to." He motioned for them to follow. "You guys may have blown up part of the device, but that doesn't mean it can't be repaired. We need to destroy the main thing _and _stop Krag once and for all."

"He's been gathering Light Eco crystals lately. I think that's going to be a major part." Jak leaned back against the wall while Daxter took his usual spot on the table.

"I figured as much. One of my men said he saw a Guard coming from the Underport (is that right? I can't remember.) with a crystal. It's obvious that Light Eco is the key to putting a stop to all this."

"How? I mean, what are we gonna do? Wave the crystals in his face?"

"No Daxter, we're going to use the crystals to destroy his machine." Samos came in with his staff as always. "You see, under certain circumstances, Light Eco can react very violently with Dark Eco. And this happens to be one of those circumstances. I believe that all you have to do is mix the two Ecos and that should be enough of an explosion to destroy the device."

"Okay, so we know how to destroy it. But how do we get to it? Krag may not have many soldiers left, but he still has robots. They swarmed Jinx and me."

"Not to mention the fact that we'd have to figure out a way to blow up the thing without blowin' ourselves up." Torn stopped and looked at Jak.

"What?"

"Y'know, since you survived your last few encounters without so much as a scratch, maybe you could-"

"NO! There is no way you can get me to mix the Eco and practically kill myself." Jak's calm demeanor ended as soon as Torn suggested that.

"I'm not saying kill yourself. I'm just saying that if you could survive the last explosion, then you should be fine now."

"He said he ain't doin' it!" Daxter challenged Torn because he knew why Jak didn't want to use that plan.

"Fine. Do you have an idea?"

"Maybe..." Daxter thought for a minute.

* * *

Back at the fortress, Krag was waiting for Grim to show up. The steel door opened to reveal him standing there. "You...wanted to see me sir?" He tried to hide the fact that he was scared out of his wits.

"Yes. It seems one of my loyal soldiers hasn't been so loyal." He then showed Grim all the footage he had of him. He gulped nervously. "Care to explain?"

"Well...I thought...I mean I, I didn't..." He trailed off, having no way to really explain.

"You know what I do to traitors." Krag sounded so smug, and it really annoyed Grim.

"Fine! Here's the truth! I don't like what you're doing here! You can't do this to people. You're no better than the Baron! I'm through working for you!" He threw down his gun and badge.

"I see." Krag was going to push the button that would call in robots so that Grim would be taught a lesson, but the power went out and the backup generators weren't kicking on.

"Huh?" Both Grim and Krag were confused.

* * *

"I can't believe the rodent actually had a better plan than me." Torn was in a mild shock because Daxter's plan was better than his.

"Well, it just goes to show ya, I'm more than just good looks." Daxter's ego had grown in size ever since he announced his plan.

"Ok Dax, so you've got your plan. Now when do we put into action?" Jak wasn't as surprised at Daxter's plan as Torn was.

"When the time is right buddy...when the time is right."

* * *

**A/N: Again, do let me know if anything in the story was wrong, and feel free to shoot a few ideas. Also, should I include Sig in Daxter's plan or no?** **I'm unsure if he should be in the rest of the story. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Okay, slowly but surely this story is getting done. I've got a lot of stuff to do this week, so the next update may be a bit slower. Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

Ch. 11

When the lights first went out, Grim had panicked a bit, but then he realized that it was Ashelin's way of telling him she figured something out. He made his way to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Krag heard Grim struggling with the door and laughed. "You idiot. With the power out that door is sealed shut. There's no way you can get out." He laughed again, but Grim wasn't really worried. He knew that Ashelin knew this would happen. So he decided to wait it out and see what the rest of her plan was. Krag kept laughing, which made Grim ask him why he was doing so.

"What's so funny? At least I can walk." Grim thought this was a pretty good insult because it was true. Or so he thought. Suddenly footsteps could be heard and they were slowly nearing Grim.

"I can't believe how much of an idiot you really are. Did you really think that I would just sit around like a lump?" Now Krag suddenly being uninjured was something that neither he nor Ashelin knew about. And with Grim not being an excellent fighter, there was no telling how long he'd last against his former leader. All he could do was hope that whatever Ashelin was planning to do would work out well. Then an idea came. Maybe he wouldn't have to fight Krag. Maybe he could just stall him until he could escape.

"How are suddenly okay? Those injuries should've taken a long time to heal." Krag laughed again, and it was really annoying Grim.

"I'm sure that you already know this but just to humor you, I did study Eco for quite some time back in the day. Even now I still have some skills with it. All I had to do was inject a little Green Eco into my system and problem solved."

"What?! But you're not supposed to do that! Green Eco is healthy and all, but injecting it into your bloodstream is just plain stupid. Not to mention all the possible health issues it could cause-"

"I think I know a little more about Eco than you! And besides, it does the exact opposite of what you just said. Instead of making me weaker, it made me _stronger!_" At this point Krag lunged at Grim and, despite the darkness, grabbed him and threw him across the room. He slammed into the wall and landed with a thud.

"I didn't even think that was possible." Grim started coughing a bit from the impact.

"Yes well, as it turns out, just the right mixture of Green, Red, and a of tad Blue Eco can really do a lot for you. And don't bother trying to stall me. It's pointless for you and whoever is helping you."

_"He doesn't know that it's Ashelin. Good."_ Grim had just gotten up when he was suddenly punched in the stomach. He fell back down to the floor out of breath. Krag was laughing at Grim's pain.

"Don't worry too much. I'll make this quick." Krag walked closer to Grim and picked him up.

* * *

"Sig? Yeah it's Torn. Listen, we need your help with something. We're gonna take out Krag once and for all and we need you for the assault. Daxter here actually came up with a plan that might actually work. Alright." Torn put away his communicator and turned to the others. Jak, Keira, Daxter, Jinx, and Samos were watching him expectantly. "He said he'll help. He's already on his way."

"Great. Now all we have to do is hope that there are no surprises." Jak readied the Morph Gun and Dax hopped on his shoulder. One look at his friend told the furry ottsel that he wasn't too well.

"Hey Jak, are you alright? You don't look too good."

"It's nothing to worry about Dax. I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm fine." Daxter just shrugged and made a mental note to keep an eye on him throughout the mission. They had everything worked out. First, Jinx and Torn would hijack a KG robot and reprogram it with a remote control. Once they got back to the hideout they'd get to work on phase two. Jak, Daxter, and Torn would be part of the 'stealth team' that would quietly break in and then clear a path for the robot, while Jinx and Sig would use Keira's prototype for a frontal assault, and Keira and Samos would keep in touch at the hideout. There were some risks however, as the robot couldn't be reprogrammed out in the open or damaged, so they'd have to lead it to the hideout. There was a small chance that the robot could relay the location but if they succeeded in defeating Krag then it wouldn't really matter. Ashelin and Torn were planning on taking over the Krimzon Guard and reforming it so something like this wouldn't happen again.

Sig finally showed up. "Alright, I got Peacemaker fully charged and ready to go. Now who's ready to take out some punks?"

"Let's just hope that this goes well."

"You worry too much Daddy."

"That's what you said when I let you go out there the last time. Just look at what happened."

"It's just a broken arm. It's not that bad." Keira was obviously still annoyed with the cast she had to wear. She couldn't even fix the prototype because of it. At least it could still drive.

"Look, let's just get this over with. Jinx, Torn. Go get that robot." Jak normally didn't take command, but he wanted this done and over with. Something just wasn't feeling right. He felt a little light headed and he had a bad feeling about the whole plan. But the only thing he could do was go with it. The two nodded and went outside leaving the others to wait for them.

Daxter stretched a bit. "Do ya think Jinx will even help?"

"No." They all answered in unison before laughing.

* * *

Grim was struggling in Krag's grip. He wasn't lying when he said the Eco made him stronger. He could hardly breathe. _"Please do something Ashelin." _He thought to himself. As if hearing his thoughts, Ashelin suddenly blew the door open. She didn't say a word for fear that she'd blow her cover. The blast momentarily distracted Krag, who slightly loosened his hold on Grim's neck. This gave Grim just enough time to swing his leg up and kick Krag in the chin. He stumbled back and dropped Grim. Ashelin then punched him in the face causing him to bump into the wall. Just to get back at him, Grim felt around for the closest object to hit him with. Closing his hand around what felt like a pistol that probably fell off Krag, he swung it and hit him directly in the face. He then turned and ran out the room alongside Ashelin who told him to use his night vision goggles. Guards were shooting at them in the dark but somehow the duo managed to evade every shot. "I hope you know that since these guys can see you, your double life is pretty much over."

"I know Grim. But I thought the longer I could hold out the better." A Guard shot from directly in front of her but she dodged it and kicked him in the face.

"How'd you get the power out anyway?" Grim was already getting tired and Ashelin wondered why anyone let him in the Guard to begin with. He wasn't very threatening and was way to soft to shoot anyone.

"I convinced one of the scientists to shut down both generators."

"Oh." The power suddenly kicked back on. "I guess the others disagreed?"

"Apparently." They kept making their way to the exit. They were almost there when Krag shot Grim in the leg. He fell immediately and Ashelin stopped to help him up. "Grim! Are you O.K.?"

"Not really." He groaned. By now Guards had surrounded them and there was no way out.

"It seems he isn't the only one who's chosen the wrong side."

"I thought almost all the other Guards were too injured to fight." Ashelin took note on how pretty much every Guard was completely fine.

"He's...injected them with Eco." Grim's leg wasn't doing to well. He needed medical attention now or else he was dead.

"Guess you've been paying attention. Don't worry, it wasn't much anyway. Just a little Green Eco to heal the injuries. Now, as for you two. You won't be so lucky." He was going to shoot them both when another Guard chose this time to tell him there was a problem. Apparently two people had set off some alarms on the other side of the fortress and deliberately let a few of the security bots follow them as they retreated. He then showed them the footage of Torn and Jinx leading the bots away. Just before they were out of the shot, Jinx did the usual stop-and-look-at-the-camera-before-shooting-it thing. "If they want to be chased by robots then let them. I have other things I need to do." He gestured towards Grim and Ashelin.

"But sir, why would they have come in the first place if they were just going to run away? Don't you find it strange that there were only two of them?"

Krag sighed. "Fine. I'll handle it because you morons obviously can't. Take this two to a holding cell. I'll finish them later." He then walked off while Guards roughly dragged the two and threw them into a cell. Ashelin had managed to wrap a piece of torn cloth around Grim's wound and stop most of the bleeding, but it wouldn't last forever and it still needed to be cleaned. She hoped Torn and the others would beat Krag soon.

* * *

Jinx and Torn had taken out all of the bots except for one. They'd lost the small squadron of Guards chasing them and were nearing the hideout. "Jinx you know what to do." Torn then shot past the robot just to keep it focused on him while Jinx went around behind it and jumped onto its back. The robot, now fully aware of Jinx's presence, thrashed about trying to get him off. Eventually Jinx shut it down by tearing a few wires. The bot collapsed and Torn and Jinx dragged it the rest of the way. When the door opened they just slid it down the steps.

"I guess you guys got it." Keira said while watching the wires spark a bit.

"Yup. Now all we gotta do is reprogram it." Jinx dragged it to the table and got to work.

"Let ne know if you need any help. My arm may be broken but I'm not completely useless." The first and easiest part was done. Now all they had to do was get the robot to the device and then get outta there before it blew up. One thing they weren't planning on was Ashelin and Grim being trapped.

* * *

**A/N: So here's another chapter. Let me know what you think and if I made any mistakes.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry about the really long wait, I had a bit of writer's block. But now I'm back on track and determined to finish this. I plan on making the last few chapters by Monday or Tuesday.**

* * *

"There. The robot is now on our side. That wasn't so hard." Jinx had just finished reprogramming the robot. Everyone was amazed, impressed even, that Jinx had the brains to do that. Maybe they should give him a little more credit. "Uh...I don't have to worry about anyone else trying to kill me anymore, right?" Or not.

"We're not done yet Jinx. You can relax after we've stopped Krag." Jak had mentally been going over the plan when he thought of something. "How do we know where Krag is keeping the crystals?" That made everyone freeze. They were so focused on getting the plan set up, that they failed to think of the most important detail.

"Great. Just great. We can't stop now, we're too close. Maybe I can get the info from Ashelin." Torn tried to reach her, but she wasn't answering. After about five minutes they knew something was up. Torn hid the fact that he felt like his heart was about to burst. If Krag found out about her secret then they had no time to plan. He turned back to the others who were still watching him. "Okay. We've got to think the worst no matter how...negative it may be. Krag knows about Ashelin, which means we need to end this _now._ We're gonna have to storm the place." Everyone was shocked at Torn's recklessness. Could it be because he was extremely concerned about Ashelin? If you ask him yourself he'll tell you no. "I know it's risky. Stupid even. But we have no choice. For all we know he could be dangling her over a pit of acid or something. Sig, go get the prototype. We're all gonna ditch the stealth thing and blast our way to the device. Our original plan wouldn't have worked anyway. If Krag knew Ashelin was our spy then he'd be expecting us to try something like that, so we're gonna go in with guns blazing. You've all got two minutes to get every available weapon and load them into the prototype." Torn then walked off leaving the others standing there. After a few seconds they scurried off to follow Torn's orders. Jak was honestly thankful that they weren't gonna sneak in. Stealth obviously wasn't working out for him. By the time the two minutes were up they had already started towards the fortress while Samos and Keira stayed at the hideout.

"So we're gonna go on a suicide mission?" Daxter was fidgeting on Jak's shoulder. He wasn't too thrilled about running directly into a fortress filled with Guards and killer robots.

"That's the plan." Jak didn't turn his head to look at him. "Minus the suicide, of course." Daxter saw the smirk on his face and smiled when he realized it was more of game face than a murderous smile. For no apparent reason, Dax suddenly felt at ease.

"Okay. Just checkin'." It only took them ten minutes to get there because of Torn's crazy driving. He was determined to stop Krag from hurting Ashelin. They came closer to the fortress, and it wasn't until they were a few feet away that Torn stopped and ordered them to get ready to onslaught. Jak and Sig prepared to fire the Peacemakers, while Torn blasted the wall with a few missiles. It blew open and they charged inside with, what Torn had said earlier, guns blazing. Any Guard stupid enough to not move was promptly hit with the prototype, and Torn even tried to shoot a few. "maybe you should take it easy!" Daxter had to shout over all the noise.

"Shut it." Torn hissed through clenched teeth. The obvious rage in his voice and lack of an insult told the ottsel that he should follow his orders. Alarms were going off all throughout the fortress, and there were Guards everywhere.

"Doesn't it bother you that they're all suddenly okay?" Jinx hadn't spoken in so long that they had forgotten he was there.

"He's right, Torn. Slow down." Jak looked at him for a moment, and when he didn't do what he said he pulled the emergency brake. The massive vehicle stopped almost immediately.

"What was that for?!" Torn was definitely ticked.

"We're not gonna get anything done plowing through the fortress like this. We need a plan. An idea. Something. If not then we'll just get caught." Jak gave him an angry look, and apparently it worked because Torn sighed and looked away.

"Fine." He put the prototype into gear. "But I'm not sitting here like a target. Where's the device?" He was swerving now, avoiding most of the Guards like he was never running them over to begin with.

"In the lower levels. But you can't expect this thing to fit in the elevator." Torn looked at Jak, Sig, and Jinx.

"Of course not. But you will."

"You're gonna drop us down an elevator shaft? I know we gotta get to the device but this isn't the best way to do it." Even Sig, the man of action, was slightly afraid.

"Just stick the landing." Torn then drove in the direction of the elevator. When they reached it he took out the Guards and then opened the windshield for the others. The elevator doors opened to reveal a new group of Guards. Torn shot the elevator and it plummeted downwards before they had the chance to shoot. "Remember, don't die. I'll worry about finding the crystals. And Ashelin. In the meantime, see if you can cause a little damage. Who knows, maybe you'll even destroy the device without the crystals." He shut the hatch and drove off leaving the 'fantastic four' to fend for themselves.

"I guess now's the time for a leap of faith, huh?" Jak fearlessly jumped down, much to Daxter's protest, and the others followed. They all grabbed onto a hanging piece of metal just before they hit the floor so they wouldn't get hurt. Or worse. Guards and robots charged at them and they fired everything. Two Peacemakers were a big help. Jak and Sig were taking out a lot of them with the blasts but they kept coming. After shooting a group of Guards off a platform Sig was out of ammo.

"I'm outta ammo! Guess it's time to do things the old fashioned way!" He lunged towards the nearest Guard and bashed him in the side of the face with his now empty gun. Jak had only two shots left on the Peacemaker setting. He shot some jet pack bearing Guards down and was left with one shot.

"Sig, think fast!" He fired his final shot, striking the bottom of a platform. It collapsed and took the entire walkway with it. Sig jumped back just as it struck the ground and pinned down the robots and Guards.

"HA! Not so tough now are you?" The other three rolled their eyes at Jinx's comment. He didn't do a thing but hide and let them do the work.

"Hey, they stopped coming." Now that it was quiet Daxter realized that there were no more Guards coming. "That couldn't have been all of 'em."

"Of course it wasn't!" Krag came crashing down out of nowhere and hit the ground so hard that Jak, Sig, and Jinx went flying back. Jak reached for his gun but Krag kicked it aside. "I'm sure you're wondering how I'm back on feet."

"I. Don't. Care." Jak knew he shouldn't have been so foolish to think that Krag wouldn't do a thing about his condition, or that he could take out every Guard in the fortress with just a Peacemaker.

"There's no need to snarl at me." Krag chuckled and Jak wanted to tear him apart. Normally he wouldn't let such desires get the better of him. But Krag had it coming after everything he's done.

"Where's Ashelin?"

"In a cell with her other traitor friend. Don't worry, you'll join them soon enough." Jak went to get up but Krag stomped on his chest so he couldn't. The others were already surrounded by Guards and had no choice but to surrender.

"Torn will stop you." Krag turned to Daxter and then laughed.

"Like one former soldier will stop me. I'll have my men take care of him." He ordered a few Guards to do so before ordering them to take Jak and the others away.

"You're pathetic." Krag stopped in his tracks when he heard Jak say this.

"What?"

"You heard me. You're pathetic. You have your men do everything for you while you just sit there and laugh. We're your biggest threat and you can't and won't even fight us." Krag clenched his fists and Jak smiled slightly. It looked like his plan was working. Krag took the bait. Now all Jak had to do was reel him in. "That's right. Some 'supreme ruler' you are. You don't even fight any of your own battles. At least the Baron did that." Jak knew he hit a sore spot. Daxter tried not to laugh at how easily Krag was falling for it. Jinx and Sig eventually caught on too. Krag was now fuming, but he still stayed where he was. Seeing how close he was to blowing up, Jak pushed him just a little further. "I'm honestly surprised that Praxis chose you as one of his successors." That did it.

"You worthless freak! You want a fight?! I'll give you one!" Krag charged towards Jak and punched him hard enough to send him flying out of the Guard's grip and into a wall.

"Jak!" Daxter knew this was what Jak wanted, but that punch looked like it hurt. Sig took the other Guards' distraction as a cue to break free and throw a punch himself. Jinx did the same and within a matter of moments they had taken all the Guards out. Krag saw this and was going to attack them but a hard punch to his face stopped him. Jak grinned at how good it felt to do that.

**"You should do more than just punch him."**

_"Not now." _Jak was in no mood for internal battles. As a matter of fact, he had been trying hard _not _to go berserk. "Guys, get to the machine or Torn or whatever. I'll handle Krag." He cracked his knuckles and stepped towards him. Sig grabbed the Morph Gun and headed off to see if Torn had any luck.

"You think you can take me? I'm much stronger now."

"Doesn't matter. I'm much angrier now. And I think you know what happens when I get angry." Krag faltered for a second before circling around slowly. Jak did the same, and they ended up watching the other to see if they would strike first. Usually there'd be a bit of small talk between the hero and villain when they did this, but neither one wanted to talk with their voices. They'd rather let their fists do the talking. Both charged towards the other and threw a punch.

* * *

Torn had been driving recklessly through the fortress for what felt like hours. He desperately wanted to find Ashelin. It wasn't just because he was concerned, well, maybe it was but she could also know where the Light Eco crystals were. Thinking about what he would do with traitors he suddenly felt stupid for not checking the holding cells sooner. But that was what _he _would do. There's no telling what Krag would've done. With these thoughts in mind he pressed the gas harder.

Ashelin had been trying to keep Grim conscious. She knew he was weak and tired from blood loss, but if she let him pass out she could lose him. She pressed the bloody cloth down harder in an effort to stop the bleeding. "C'mon Grim. Stay awake." She was slightly relieved to hear a quiet moan come from him. At least he was still alive. Guards suddenly started shouting, and she stopped tending to Grim's wound to peek out the cell window. It was small, but she could see Guards running from something. A large vehicle appeared, and it obviously wasn't part of the Guard. It swerved into the middle of the room and the windshield opened to reveal Torn.

"Ashelin?!"

"Torn! Over here! Hurry and get us out of here! Grim's badly hurt!" He jumped out of the prototype, which was starting to look like it had seen better days, and ran over to the door. He got open in no time and helped Ashelin carry Grim to the back seat.

"Ashelin, listen. Jak, Sig, Jinx, and Daxter are by the machine. I need to know if you have any idea where Krag's keeping the Light Eco crystals."

"Krag made the mistake of telling me. They're in a lab on level four."

"Thanks. Take this prototype and use it to get Grim to the hideout. Samos is there. Maybe he can heal him. I'll handle it from here."

"But Torn-"

"That's an _order _Ashelin! Get Grim and yourself outta here!" He didn't mean to sound so harsh but he wanted them to get to safety. She nodded and sped off leaving Torn to find his way to the lab. After he hit level three via the stairs, since he destroyed the elevator and didn't have the time to look for another, he ran into Sig, Jinx, and Daxter. "Where's Jak?"

"Fightin' Krag! Are you headin' to that lab too?"

"Yeah. How'd you find out about it?" It's not that Torn underestimated Sig, but he was surprised that he and the others managed to get so far.

"We 'convinced' a Guard to tell us. We also told Jak about it too." Sig was now right behind Torn, followed by the others as they darted down the stairs. "We're almost there." Torn kicked the door open and was surprised that no one was in there. They began rummaging through everything in order to find what they were looking for. They even overturned tables. After minutes of searching they stopped.

"They're not here." Torn stated the obvious, perhaps just to convince himself of it. They all stood there, having no clue what they were gonna do. They were way inside enemy territory, their best teammate was fighting their nemesis, and they didn't know where the one and only thing that could stop all of this was.

* * *

Jak definitely underestimated Krag's strength. After the fourth blow he was left fighting to stay on his feet. But he wasn't going to let that monster win. He couldn't. His sheer determination was the only thing that kept him fighting back. Krag hit him in the face and this time he lost his balance and stumbled back into a wall. His legs, suddenly feeling too weak to keep him standing, gave out and he slid to the floor. He heard Krag laugh and say something about how weak he was, but he had too much of a headache to really hear it. Not only did he have a headache, but he still felt lightheaded. What a combo. He was jerked back to reality when Krag picked him up by his collar. "Such a shame. Do you even realize how great a warrior you would've made?" Jak wearily looked up at him. His tired eyes meant Krag's and he forced a smile. "What's so funny?" Krag was now bewildered. Why and how could Jak possibly be smiling when he basically just lost?

"You are. Don't you get it? Even if, by some chance, you beat me and crush the Underground, you still won't win. After Praxis went down, people realized that they didn't have to live in fear and obey anyone and everyone with a high title. You may not be aware but...after I took out the Baron, the Underground was flooded with new members the second you came into play. Even we all die there will be people following our example. And I _know _that they'll succeed where we didn't. So let's see how smug you are now." Krag was shocked and even slightly impressed by Jak's will. But being him, he'll just have to find a way to break that.

"You know, I never did finish charging that device." He dragged him to where Jak was previously used as a living battery and Jak's eyes widened a little. There was no way he was going through that again. After what happened last time. And what's worse is that Jak didn't even have the strength to do it again. Suddenly he realized that Krag had actually tricked _him._ He let him think that he had goaded him into a fight when in reality Krag was goading him so that he could weaken him enough to charge the device. Before Jak knew it they were in the room and Krag was strapping him onto the table. "This time, there is _no _escape."

* * *

Ashelin skidded to halt outside the hideout. She carefully picked up Grim and carried him inside. "Ashelin?! Is that Grim?" Keira looked up from her work, a horrified look on her face. Grim was pale and his leg was soaked with blood.

"Where's Samos?"

"I'll go get him." Keira swiftly left the room and came back seconds later with her father. He didn't ask what happened, instead he had him laid on a table and got to work. All three of them were tense and afraid that Grim might not make it. After what seemed like eternity, Samos finally spoke.

"He'll be okay." Ashelin and Keira both let out breaths they weren't aware they were holding. "But just barely. He's lost a lot of blood and since there's no way I can replace it he'll just have to take it easy for a long while. Let him rest. It seems he's been through quite a lot." They moved to a different room so they wouldn't disturb Grim. After a while Keira spoke up.

"I, uh, upgraded that bot that they left behind. It wasn't easy but I managed to give it some better armor and a few extra weapons. It also runs on an 'autopilot', so to speak. You can just order it around instead of using a remote control."

"Okay. I'll take it with me when I go back to the-"

"Keira this is Torn! The crystals aren't here. Are Ashelin and Grim there with you?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, Grim's okay."

"Good. Ask Ashelin if she has any idea where the crystals are." Ashelin had no clue where they could have been moved.

"I honestly don't know, Torn. But I'm on my way with a reprogrammed KG robot. Don't worry, we'll find them. Even if we have to destroy the place." She headed back to Keira's prototype with a look of pure determination on her face. There were no more games. It was now or never. She ordered the robot to follow her back to the fortress and it did. They were gonna end this for good.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter. Please review. Only a couple chapters left!**


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